Port Hill House

Port Hill House is a house, formerly a farmhouse, dating from the 17th century, with alterations made in the 19th and 20th centuries. The building features colourwashed brick on the north range and a stuccoed south range, topped with old tiled double gabled roofs. It has a double-depth plan, with the entrance now centrally located on the extended house. The structure consists of five bays, originally three.

The exterior is two storeys high with attics. The north elevation has three 4-light wood casement windows with divided glazing on the first floor, alternating with 2-light windows, one of which extends downwards to form a landing window. There is a plat band at the first-floor level. The ground floor features two 2-light and two 4-light wood casement windows, with broad 4-light casement windows in the outer bays, all beneath segmental brick arches. A central Regency style porch has a cambered segmental arch and a concave metal canopy roof, with an early 20th-century half-glazed door and sidelights beneath a broad segmental traceried fanlight. To the left, there is a single storey lean-to.

The south elevation was remodelled in the early 20th century and has five bays with 2-light and 4-light metal casement windows featuring leaded glazing. The ground floor has a recessed loggia in the centre. The attics include three gabled casement dormers on both the north and south elevations. Red brick chimneys are present, with those on the east above substantial external chimney breasts, topped with long cream tapered terracotta pots with projecting rims.

The interior has not been inspected. Historically, Port Hill House was the home of Thomas Dimsdale, a pioneer of smallpox inoculation, and was known as 'The Inoculation House'. In 1763, The Old Pest House was built to the south on a plot adjoining Dimsdale's garden.