Astley House

Astley House, formerly known as the Bell Inn and Police Station, is a house with origins dating back to the 16th century. It was raised, refronted, and extended in the early 18th century, with alterations made in the 19th century. The building features a timber frame that is plastered, with a colourwashed red brick front and steeply pitched plaintiled roofs. The original layout is unclear, but it has a three-bay front with later additions at the rear. The house has two storeys and includes steps leading up to a recessed, part raised, fielded six-panelled door, which is complemented by a traceried fanlight and a reeded doorcase with lozenges in the frieze, topped with a projecting hood. The windows are moulded flush frame 16-pane sashes, with the central window on the first floor either blocked or a dummy. The building has an offset plinth and dentilled brick eaves. An end stack on the left side adjoins The Bell Hotel. At the rear left, there is a two-storey added bay with a pyramidal roof, and to the rear right, a one-storey bay connects to an 18th-century brewhouse outbuilding that features a central ridge stack. Inside, there are fragments of 16th-century framing, close studding with a mid-rail, and a stop-chamfered axial binding beam.