Little Offley

Little Offley is a country house with late 16th-century origins as a timber-framed H-plan house built for the Spicer family. It was substantially altered and refronted during the Jacobean period and again in the late 17th century, with further restoration and extension in the early 20th century.

The Drapentier engraving of 1700 shows that by the Jacobean period the house had been heightened, with a centre section raised to two storeys with attics, an elaborate two-storey frontispiece, a cupola dated 1688 on its vane, and sash windows to the first floor of the wings. The present brick front and small gabled wings projecting to the south-west and south-east at the outer corners of the wings are dated to 1696 by a rainwater head on the south-east small wing. The house was restored and extended at the north-east and north-west around 1913 by Geoffrey Lucas and Arthur Lodge for C.E. Johnston. Timber framing is now exposed only at the rear of the west wing.

The front is constructed in red brick in Flemish bond, chequered with black headers, with light red brick to angles and openings. Red rubbed brick is used at the front for the plinth, plat band, and the whole projecting central bay. The steep old red tile roofs have a wooden eaves cornice and pediment with slate roof. A large two-storey cellar and attics face south.

The symmetrical south front displays a two-storey centre of five windows, flanked by two-storey and attics sections of two windows wide with gabled projecting wings. These are themselves flanked by narrow two-storey gabled outer wings of one window wide. Flush box sashes with 12/12 panes light the first floor of the centre; 6/6 panes are used elsewhere. A modillioned painted eaves cornice to the centre is returned to the adjoining sides of the wings. A triangular pediment crowns a shallow central projection containing one window. An elaborate enriched bolection-moulded carved oak doorcase with carved swelled frieze, consoles, and segmental broken pediment with swags and a fruit-carved key-block is set within a flat-topped, single-storey rectangular porch with sash windows to the sides; this porch was added after 1917. Casement windows light the kitchen on the ground floor of the east wing. The wing gables have moulded parapets and small leaded single-light windows to the attics. A rectangular east kitchen chimney has a small gabled bellcote on its east face. Square shafts set diagonally occur on the rear wall of the central range and the west side of the west wing. The south-west outer wing was probably altered and widened in the 18th century and has a canted bay window of the later 19th century. A two-storey nursery wing of circa 1913 at the north-west, facing west, has a timbered loggia below two gables with cross windows. The rear elevation shows a half-glazed entrance door under a semi-circular fanlight with panelled spandrels below a flat hood on shaped brackets with guttae as corbels. Twin gabled parapets to the east of the stair tower have a stepped plat band and original cross windows with iron casements and rectangular leaded glazing beneath flat gauged arches. The timber framing of the rear of the west wing displays two clasped-purlins to each slope.

The present narrow through passage from the front door occupies the position of the original screens passage, with the hall to the west featuring a large external rear wall chimney. A parlour crosswing extends to the west. Two service rooms lie to the east of the passage, with a rear passage leading to the kitchen in the east wing. 17th-century alterations included adding a two-storey passage around the back of the hall chimney, a two-gabled stair tower to the rear of the east crosswing, and a service extension to the east beyond its massive east gable chimney. Two-storey small outer gabled wings at the south-east and south-west, with passage access to principal rooms on the first floor, also date to this period.

The interior contains much bolection-moulded panelling and doors, notably in the through passage, which features an arch flanked by panelled pilasters on bases with an eared architrave to the rear. A room on the east of the entrance has full panelling with bolection moulding to the fire surround, three-panel doors with case locks, and a moulded cornice. A similar room with contemporary panelling exists on the first floor. A Jacobean arcaded overmantle in the west parlour displays four carved caryatid figures and inlay bands. The staircase features barleysugar twisted balusters and bolection wall panelling, though it now rises from the rear lobby rather than the former rear service passage. The clasped-purlin roof to the main range stands at the same height as that of the wings and contains supports for the former cupola. The kitchen, fitted with old chamfered crossed ceiling beams, was refitted as a parlour with oak plank doors and a stone fireplace around 1913. A chamfered four-centred 17th-century brick fireplace occurs on the first floor.