Friday Hill House

House. Dated 1839, designed by Lewis Vulliamy for R G Heathcote. It is constructed of cream brick in Flemish bond, with Roman cement and stone dressings, and a slate roof. The house has a U-shaped plan, open on the north side, and consists of two storeys with a cellar, and a four-storey tower. There are projecting wings in the end bays of the north elevation, which has eight bays in total. The tower is located to the rear left. The design is in the Tudor style, and incorporates a plinth and a continuous hoodmould to the ground floor. Mullioned and transomed windows with horizontal glazing bars are present, along with four-centred arched doorways. Stepped dentilled eaves, coped raised verges, chimneys offset below clustered octagonal flues with red brick cornices, are also features. The north elevation has a central doorway with raised panels, sidelights, and an overlight with geometric glazing bars to the enter lights, along with a date panel featuring a coat of arms above and a cross-window above the doorway. Smaller windows are located either side on each floor; the next bays have a cross-window with a four-light window above, and the outer bays each have a one-light window with an oriel above bridging the angle with the wing. Wings each have an external stack flanked by windows. The tower has a hipped roof. The garden elevation features a gabled left-hand bay with a two-storey canted bay window, decorative banding to the first floor, and a shield above. A doorway to the next bay has decorative geometric glazing bars to the overlight. Between bays five and six is a turret with blind slit windows and an ogee dome. A servants' wing is situated on the right. Internally, remaining contemporary features include panelled doors, shutters, and walls, decorative architraves, dado and ceiling cornices, and fireplaces. Two fireplaces have elaborate wooden cornices and over-panels, one possibly incorporating early 17th century woodwork. The stair hall features wall panelling, a compartmental ceiling, and an open-well staircase with an open string, turned balusters, a ramped handrail, pendants, and newel finials. A room in the west wing features an elaborate cornice and a later 19th-century wall-painting revealed as decorative panels with flowers. A house has been on the site since at least the 16th century, and it is thought that some woodwork in the present house may have originated from an early 17th-century house that was known to have existed.