Yew Tree House

Yew Tree House

A timber-framed house of 17th-century origin, significantly expanded and altered in the early, mid and late 19th centuries, with further modifications in the 20th century. The main structure is timber-framed with brick nogging infill and colour-washed rendered infill and colour-washed brick. The roof is of slate, probably originally thatched on the 17th-century portion. Two storeys throughout.

The 17th-century core follows a three-cell baffle-entry plan. Close-studded timber framing with tension braces to both floors is characteristic of this period, with a moulded bressumer dividing the ground and first floors. Some of the first-floor framing consists of applied planking of 17th-century date. Ground-floor infill comprises brick nogging, while the first floor has plastered infill with a projecting brick plinth.

The garden front showcases the 17th-century portion at the centre, refenestrated in the 19th century. The first floor features four gabled half-dormer windows of two lights, and to the far right is a lower two-light casement with a gablet above. The ground floor contains a half-glazed door of 19th-century date at left of centre, positioned where an earlier doorway existed, with a similar but narrower door at right. Between these doors are two sets of French windows in the form of two-light casements with opening door-panels below. To the far left is a rectangular bay window with hipped roof of three lights with pointed-arched heads, and further left is a canted bay window with single lights to the angles. All window lights on this front feature four-centred heads. The roof is half-hipped at the left, with a 19th-century brick chimney stack having a panelled base supporting four flues of diamond section. Adjoining to the left is a single-storey 19th-century addition with a canted 20th-century bay window approached by two steps, featuring French windows and two lights to each angle, all with pointed heads. A projecting 20th-century lean-to addition lies to the right, with a strip window at right and plank door at left, with a two-light casement above at first-floor level having four-centred headed lights.

The entrance front displays the 17th-century wing with half-hipped roof and single-storey addition at right. A recessed 19th-century range occupies the left portion, with a glazed porch to the re-entrant angle. A single-light ground-floor casement lies to the left of this, and two two-light casements appear at first-floor level, all lights having pointed arched heads. A decorative bressumer-band separates the floors.

The drive front shows a recessed 17th-century wing at right. To the left extends a 19th-century range with four bays on the right paired beneath two gables. The ground floor has four two-light casements, while the first floor is jettied with a decorated bressumer, all windows having pointed heads. To the left of this is a bay with half-hipped roof containing three-light windows at both ground and first-floor levels. Fenestration to the left is randomly disposed.

The rear elevation shows randomly disposed fenestration and a projecting wing to the left-hand side.

The interior was substantially altered in the 19th century, though the three-cell plan of the 17th-century portion remains, albeit subdivided and modified. The 17th-century roof retains wind bracing. A mid-19th-century library features an encased ceiling beam with moulded fire and window surrounds. A later 19th-century dining room displays a panelled ceiling, decorative plasterwork, and a richly-moulded ashlar fire surround.