Cantley House

Cantley House is a house, originally a farmhouse, dating to the 16th and 17th centuries, constructed of colourwashed brick with a pantile roof. The house comprises a 16th-century two-cell cross wing to the right and a 17th-century range attached to the left, with a 19th-century single-storey lofted range added to the left.

The principal facade faces northwest. The 17th-century range is built in English bond, featuring a plinth, platband, and a crowstepped gable with an internal stack to the left. Windows were renewed around 1980 as cross windows in a 17th-century style, with wrought iron casements and hinges. Four openings are present on the ground floor with segmental arches, and five on the first floor. A doorway on the left has a renewed flat, ogee-headed door with decorative strap hinges from Burgh Hall near Aylsham. The 16th-century timber-framed cross wing has been refaced in brick in Flemish bond and features bargeboards. The windows match those of the 17th-century range, with a flat arch over the ground-floor window and a cambered arch over the first-floor window. An attic window mirrors the first-floor window, but without a transom. The right return of the cross wing has two bays with a central chimney bay and an axial stack. A gabled porch with bargeboards and a drop finial encloses the central doorway, with a matching door and details from Burgh Hall.

The rear of the house shows the 16th-century cross wing projecting to the left, with openings having cambered arches and windows matching the southwest facade. The ground floor has three-light windows. The 17th-century range has a central doorway, with windows like those on the southwest facade. Two small two-light openings are present on the ground and first floors, with segmental arches on the ground floor and older arches on the first. Two single inserted lights are centrally located on the first floor. A large gabled dormer features a two-light casement to the right. An 18th-century range to the northeast is single-storey and lofted, with colourwashed brick and a dentil cornice. The front now has a door to the right and two two-light openings. The rear has three similar openings.

Inside the 16th-century cross wing, a large central stack is present, alongside a fireplace with a bressumer and bread oven in the front room, and fireplaces on the rear room and first floor, with chamfered four-centred flat arches in brick. Front room bridging and stack beams have lambs tongue chamfer stops. The partition wall to the 17th-century rear room has timber studs and moulding to the beams with lambs tongue chamfer stops. The first floor has a quarter moulded ring frame and bridging beam. The attic features collars and clasped purlins, with arched braces to the rear cell. The 17th-century range has later partitions, three tie beams, a three-tiered roof with tennoned butt purlins, thick collars, and a timber-framed dormer to the rear.

The house and farmstead represent the only remaining settlement of the former parish of Cantelose.