John Gay'S House

A large house, dating from the early 17th century, with alterations and extensions in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. The house is largely brick, with some timber framing visible behind the brick gable. It has a hipped roof covered in old tiles. Originally rectangular, with two framed bays, it was later extended to the northeast in the 18th century, and to the southwest in the 19th and 20th centuries, including the addition of an enclosed swimming pool. The house has two storeys and several chimneys with offset heads and clay pots. Most windows are sash windows with glazing bars.

The north-west front has a facade of two bays, then four bays. A brick string course runs at the impost level, and there is a moulded eaves cornice. The left-hand section has a higher roof, featuring two windows on the first floor and a Venetian window on the left. The ground floor has three taller windows. The right-hand section has four windows on the first floor, three with semi-circular heads and radiating glazing bars, and three tall windows on the ground floor, also with similar heads. To the left of these is a porch with Tuscan columns and a moulded cornice. A half-glazed door with a fanlight containing leaf and diamond pattern glazing bars provides entrance.

The south-east front is divided into three sections, of two bays, two bays, and three bays respectively. The central section features a gable and chimney fronting a timber-framed older part of the house, with two wide windows on the first floor. The ground floor has a 20th-century pedimented porch with Tuscan columns and a 20th-century entrance door. The left-hand section has a chimney springing from the eaves. It has two windows on the first floor with semi-circular heads and radiating glazing bars, and two windows on the ground floor in architrave frames. The right-hand section has a chimney on the ridge to the right of the centre. It includes three windows on the first floor with louvred shutters on each side, and two narrow, two-light casement windows on the ground floor with segmental brick arches.

The interior has been extensively restored. Two bays of timber framing are exposed, with a 20th-century gallery now functioning as a hall. The library has an elaborate cornice with dentils and egg-and-dart ornament, and panelled window shutters enriched with egg-and-dart ornament. The drawing room features a marble fireplace with an urn in the centre, a moulded mantelpiece with festoons and acanthus leaf ornament, a staircase with stick balusters and a wreathed handrail, and a panelled dado. The house is shown as Gay's House on Ordnance Survey maps.