The Mansion

This is a large country house, built in 1902 as a rebuilding of an earlier 18th-century or older house, with a date marked on the cupola. It is now used for hospital administration and accommodation. The house was designed by C.J. Harold Cooper for C. Raphael and is constructed of stuccoed brick with stone and timber dressings, covered by a green slate roof. The plan is roughly 'H' shaped, potentially reflecting earlier arrangements. It is built in an Edwardian Classical/Baroque style.

The house is three storeys high, with a 3:5:3 bay front. The central part of the ground floor projects forward. A stone portico with Tuscan columns is at the centre, featuring a balustraded parapet. The main entrance is in the second bay from the right, within a timber porch with leaded, glazed panels. Timber casements with glazing bars are found throughout, although some sashes are present in the wings and to the rear. The upper storeys of the main range have an additional staircase window in each of the two right-hand bays, all with stained glass. A continuous, carved cornice runs over the first floor, topped by a coped parapet. The roof is steeply pitched and double-spaned, with a turret topped by a cupola featuring Baroque detailing. The wings are canted to front. Relieving arches are visible over the first-floor windows. The left return has additions both at the front angle and to the ground floor.

The rear elevation also has a 3:5:3 bay arrangement. The centre slightly projects under a shallow gable with a raking, moulded stone cornice. A canted bay addition is on the ground floor of the central three bays, while the second floor features a single, lugged architrave with a central, round-headed window set within scrolled jambs. There are rambling extensions to the right, matching in appearance but with simpler detailing, and a small, ogee, turreted bay is to the rear.

Inside, there is a complex open-well staircase with twin flights leading to a landing, along with panelling containing carved ornament and plaster ceilings on the ground floor, all designed in a 17th-century style. N. Hawksmoor lived at the house until his death in 1736, and Admiral Lord Richard Howe also resided there.