The Old Dower House

The Old Dower House is a house dating from the early to mid 16th century, with alterations made in the 18th century and later. It was part of the winter residence for the Woodhouse family of nearby Crowfield Hall. The building has two storeys and is constructed with timber framing and plaster on a high plinth of tarred brick. It features a hipped roof covered with plain tiles, gabled dormers, and an axial chimney made of red brick. The windows are late 18th-century small-pane sashes.

A slightly protruding block includes an early 18th-century staircase window with a semi-circular head and thick glazing bars. The entrance door, which is late 18th or early 19th century, has six panels and is topped with a flat cantilevered canopy. The front parlour has an unusual rhomboid shape to align with School Road and was originally jettied on two sides. The first-floor joists and beams are well roll-moulded, and there is a wide open fireplace with a moulded lintel, above which are 17th-century moulded plaster figures of animals, including a lion, though some are badly disfigured.

The chamber above the fireplace has moulded beams, and next to the fireplace is an altered original garderobe made of brick. A small parlour contains a notable 17th-century wall painting featuring a repeated strapwork design in pink, which remains largely intact on three walls. The external walls were raised and a new roof was added in the 18th century. An early 18th-century staircase was remodelled or possibly replicated in the early 20th century. From 1603 to 1625, the house served as the Gryffon Inn.