Gatehouse To Plumpton House Including Well House Immediately East

The gatehouse to Plumpton House, which includes a well house immediately to the east, dates from the late 19th century or the Edwardian period. It is 1 and a half storeys tall, featuring mock-timbering and roughcast render above a high red brick plinth. The roof is half-hipped and covered with plain tiles, topped by a large gable above the central entry. The wide, high entry has a hammer beam roof, mostly boxed in with close-studded partitions, allowing only the supporting arched braces and hammer beams to be visible. At collar level, there is a ceiling with exposed joists. The central gable has projecting eaves and studding at the apex, with a small flat-headed dormer on each side of the roof slopes.

On either side of the entry, there are cottages featuring internal red brick chimney stacks with rectangular shafts and heavily corbelled heads. Each cottage has a gabled dormer with three-light casement windows, plain projecting bargeboards, and studding in the apex. The ground floor includes a flat-headed canted bay with a four-light casement window. All windows have square leaded panes with tiny diamond panes connecting the squares. There is an entrance door in the side wall.

Additionally, there are two small single-storey extensions made from similar materials, though not identical in style. These extensions have high internal chimneys with square shafts, raised pilaster strips on each face, and heavily corbelled heads. This gatehouse is one of the few examples of mock-timbering in this part of Suffolk and serves as a landmark in the flat surrounding countryside.

The contemporary well house to the east has a square plan and is an open-sided timber-frame structure. It features posts at the corners supporting a gabled hipped roof with louvres in the gablets. Between the corner posts, there are wooden railings with a gate on one side. The gatehouse and well house were likely built around 1911 when Plumpton House was altered.