St Peters Court

St. Peter's Court is a house dating from circa 1500, with alterations in the early and late 16th century. Originally a 3-cell house of Wealden type, the core of the building consists of an open hall. It is two storeys high. The house has a timber frame with exposed close-studding throughout its three phases, infilled with plaster panels. The roof is tiled and features a 17th-century axial chimney constructed of red brick. Most of the windows are late 20th-century oak, with a cavetto-mullion design, set into their original openings. A 20th-century oak-framed porch provides entry, featuring a plank door and reused 17th-century ovolo-mullioned windows with leaded glazing.

The surviving part of the original house is the 2-bay open hall, which formerly had a cross-entry to the right. The open truss has a cambered tie-beam with cranked arch braces and shafts beneath, one of which is damaged, with evidence for a crownpost (roof renewed in the 20th century). The tension-braced close studding is of good quality. The upper wall framing, despite some damage, shows evidence of Wealden-type construction, though with unusual details. The flying wall-plate at the overhanging eaves has been removed, but mortices for its supporting braces remain. The rear wall shows reversed assembly at the open truss, and the crownpost was not central upon its tie-beam, characteristics associated with an asymmetrical roof over a Wealden house. An unjettied service cell originally existed to the right of the hall, suggesting the flying wall-plate continued to the end of the building.

Around 1530, an upper floor was inserted over the lower bay of the hall, featuring a fine moulded and brattished beam supporting roll-and-cavetto moulded joists, along with a similarly moulded dais beam at the upper end of the hall. Also around 1530, the original service cell was demolished, and a parlour block was built, containing a massive moulded bridging beam and unchamfered joists. An external doorway at this end has an arched head with sunk spandrels. In the late 16th century, the original parlour cell to the left was rebuilt, exhibiting good close-studding and a 2-tier butt-purlin roof. An arched parlour fireplace is also present.