Abbot'S House

Abbot's House is a house dating from the 16th century, with alterations and heating added in the 17th century. It was largely rebuilt around 1700 and extended in the late 19th century and around 1900. Originally timber-framed, it was rebuilt and faced with red brick, with some rendering and mock timber framing. The roof is tiled and hipped. It began as a hall with a cross wing to the left. It was rebuilt as a symmetrical, three-window fronted double-depth house. The roof was raised, creating two storeys and an attic. The central entrance is in the position of the original screen passage and features a six-panelled door, a semi-circular traceried fanlight, a panelled round-headed reveal, a Roman Doric doorcase with half-columns, an entablature, and an open pediment. The windows are spaced widely, with glazing bar sashes in flush frames, gauged brick flat arches, and tripartite windows on the outer bays. There is a modillioned eaves cornice. An Abbot medallion has been inserted into the centre below the eaves. A 17th-century ridge stack is located to the right of the centre, with a cornice and three clustered octagonal shafts. Another 17th-century stack is at the left end. The left return has ground-floor French doors and a first-floor three-light casement with arched heads to each light, a cambered outer head, and a gabled two-light dormer. An extruded stack is towards the rear. Some original framing is exposed to the rear of this stack. The rear elevation includes a projecting gable end of the original cross wing and a ground-floor conservatory. First-floor and attic windows consist of three-light casements with mock timber framing that extends across the rear elevation. A large 16-pane staircase sash is in the centre. To the left and projecting less is an early 20th-century gabled block with a single-storey hipped projection. The right return from the front has French doors, a sash within a reveal, and around the rear, a circa 1900 rendered rectangular bay. Internally, the ground floor of the original cross wing features stop-chamfered spine beams with run-out stops. The main staircase is from the early 19th century, with moulded newel posts and a hand rail. Some 17th-century cigar balusters have been reused in a secondary staircase in the wing.