Crossways

Crossways is a house built in the late 18th or early 19th century. The building began as a symmetrical, three-bay house with an M-shaped roof and chimney stacks at either end, forming the eastern three bays of the present structure. A blocked opening on the north side indicates its original entrance position. The plan now includes a central entrance hall on the south side, leading to a rear staircase, two rooms to the east and three to the west, plus a secondary staircase in the southwest corner. A wall separating two ground-floor rooms has been removed.

The exterior is red brick with a stucco ground floor and roughcast rendering above. It has slate roofs, with a pitched M-roof to the eastern part and parallel hipped roofs to the west, all concealed behind a continuous parapet. The north elevation features a decorative band below the parapet. 20th-century casement windows are present. A timber doorcase, with pilasters, frames the central entrance on the south elevation, and is characteristic of the early 19th century.

Inside, the entrance hall has a blocked chimney breast on the west side. The main staircase, dating from the late 18th or early 19th century, has an open string with scroll-shaped ends to the treads, a ramped mahogany handrail, column newels, stick balusters, and a curtail. It is positioned against a chimney breast on the northwest wall, suggesting a later relocation. The ceiling at the rear of the original section of the house was raised, likely during a late-Georgian remodelling, resulting in a change of floor level between the front and back of the upper floor, and raising the ceiling height above eaves level in the bedrooms. The secondary staircase features stick balusters, column newels, and a panelled inner string. A late 18th or early 19th-century dresser remains on the south wall of the northwest kitchen, although the lower portion has been altered. The house underwent internal refurbishment in the early 20th century, and most of the fireplaces are from that period. Later Georgian features remain on the upper floors, including dado panelling, architraves, a fire surround with a reeded frieze, a later grate, and built-in cupboards in the northeast bedroom.