Grove Cottage

Grove Cottage is a former pair of staff cottages for The Grove, located on Port Hill in Bengeo. It dates from the early to mid-19th century, with later alterations in the 19th and 20th centuries. The building is constructed of yellow stock brick in Flemish bond and features a hipped double roof covered with Welsh slate. The roof has a brick corbel band and a dentil cornice, along with a central pediment on the south side. It has central yellow brick chimneystacks topped with oversailing caps and tapered square yellow terracotta pots.

The exterior is two storeys high, with the east elevation facing the road. It has three recessed 12-pane sash windows on the first floor, each beneath rubbed brick segmental arches. The ground floor features two similar windows and a porch located to the left of centre. This porch has brick sides with semicircular headed sidelights, a triple upper light, an egg-and-dart profiled fascia, and a concave lead canopy roof. The recessed half-glazed door has a four-pane upper light and a lower panel with a bolection surround. There is also a recessed rear porch with a half-glazed kitchen door and a sash window to the right.

The south elevation consists of three bays, with the centre bay slightly projecting forward and featuring a brick pediment gable. On the first floor, there are single recessed 12-pane sashes under rubbed brick flat arches on the left and right. The ground floor has canted bay windows, with the right bay containing 4:16:4-pane sashes, while the left has been adapted to include French windows with margin glazing and a margin-glazed top light. Both bay windows have lead flat roofs with coved moulded cornices.

Inside, the cottage has been significantly altered to combine the two original cottages into a single dwelling in the late 19th or early 20th century. The front left room features a 19th-century cast-iron fire surround with decorative paterae. The hall has a reset 18th-century wood cornice and china cabinets with glazed doors on either side of the former fireplace. The staircase has stick balusters and a moulded hardwood rail, with a late 19th-century lower flight featuring Jacobean-style newels. The rear dining room includes reset 18th-century style panelling and a wood cornice. The cellar has a brick floor and walls, with curved walls that once contained twin stairs from the original two dwellings.