Unicorn House

Unicorn House is a former public house that has been converted into a house. It dates from the late 15th century to early 16th century, with a modernized exterior and rear extensions added in the late 20th century. The building is timber-framed and rendered, with a pantile roof.

It has two storeys and a cellar that is partly above ground, now arranged in a three-cell plan with an internal chimney stack. The upper storey features a range of three small-paned 20th-century casement windows, with the two outer windows being two-light and the central window three-light with a narrow middle light. On the ground floor, there is one two-light casement window with top lights and two fixed small-pane windows with top-opening lights. A window at pavement level in the high plinth provides light to the cellar. The west gable has a square 20th-century bay with a gabled pantiled roof and three small-paned windows. The entrance is now located at the rear.

Inside, there is an extensive cellar with walls made of large kidney flints, which has been modernized and is part of the living area. Some timbers are exposed in the interior. The frame consists of four bays with a three-cell plan, remnants of a cross-entry, and an internal chimney stack with two back-to-back hearths. The hall is in one long bay, and there is no bay for the chimney, which appears to have been inserted later. One open fireplace features a large cambered and roll-moulded lintel. The house has seen significant alterations; signs of charring and smoke-blackening on the upper timbers suggest it once had an open hall, although the clasped purlin roof remains unblackened. There are tension braces in one cross-wall, and a tie-beam and post have empty mortices for arched braces. The two eastern bays have 17th-century ceiling joists. Additionally, there are curious drawings in red ochre on the plaster within the roof space that may depict windmills.