Great House

Great House is a house dating from the early 17th century, incorporating elements of a medieval structure. It comprises a hall range of one storey with attics, a two-storey crosswing to the right, and a two-storey service range to the rear. The house is timber-framed and plastered, with 20th-century decorative pargetted panels. The roof is tiled, with two 19th-century gabled dormers on the hall range. An early 17th-century axial chimney of red brick features a sawtooth shaft; a later 17th-century external chimney of red brick is located to the right of the crosswing. The windows are largely late 19th and 20th-century casements, and a 20th-century panelled, half-glazed entrance door is present.

Some original framing remains from an open hall, possibly dating to the 15th century, including a closed roof truss with widely-spaced, smoke-blackened studding and a section of rear wall with arch wind bracing. The hall’s original open truss only retains storey posts; the tie beam has been replaced by two large, cruck-like knees rising to a collar beam of the 17th or 18th century. An early 17th-century first floor was inserted, featuring an ovolo-moulded main beam and chamfered joists laid flat. A cell to the left was rebuilt as a parlour, with similar 17th-century framing, including back-to-back open fireplaces and moulded door frames.

The crosswing to the right was added in the later 17th century and has floor joists set on edge, with a 2-tier side-purlin roof. The rear range, consisting of two cells, also exhibits plain 17th-century framing with a diamond-mullioned window. One chamber contains complete early 18th-century panelling with large fielded panels, a heavy cornice, and a bolection-moulded door architrave. The house was restored around 1980 following a period of dereliction.