Strawberry Hall House

Strawberry Hall House is a mid-18th-century house that was extended and remodelled in the mid-19th century and further extended in the 20th century.

The principal 18th-century south range is constructed of buff stone and brick dressings. The south front is built or clad in alternating bands of red and buff coloured bricks laid in English bond, while the east and west elevations are red brick with grey headers, and the north elevation is brown brick laid in Flemish bond. The 19th and 20th-century north range is red brick with grey headers in Sussex bond at the west end and brown brick in Sussex bond towards the east end, where it is also tile hung. The roofs are clay-tiled.

The building has a double pile plan of two parallel ranges broadly aligned east to west, each with a pitched roof creating an axial valley. The southern 18th-century range has three storeys and a cellar, with the principal entrance to the south leading to a hall and stairs. There are two sitting rooms to the ground floor, bedrooms to the first floor, and storage rooms in the attic. A corridor on the first floor aligned east to west serves rooms in both ranges and has a stair to the attic over the southern range. The north range is single-storey to the west end and two-storey to the east end, with a front entrance on the west elevation, a central kitchen, and a utility room to the east end with back door. The first floor contains bathrooms and a bedroom.

The southern range faces south and is symmetrical with two visible storeys over three bays. It has a deep, coursed-stone plinth. The central projecting gabled entrance bay is characterised by sturdy stone detailing of Gothic-revival character, including alternating quoins, two breather windows, and a gothic-arched door case. The front door has four panels, the upper two of which have stained glass lights. Above the entrance, the gable end is clad in hung tile and projects slightly to rest on modillions. It has timber side posts which rise to a pierced and scalloped bargeboard, underneath which is a central casement window with leaded lights, fronted by a decorative cast-iron balconette. The flanking bays have alternating stone corner quoins and tripartite leaded-light windows set into buff-brick architraves to both storeys. The eastern bay has two red-painted support plates for structural strengthening. Slightly off centre to the west side of the roof is a substantial axial chimney stack with two canted and corbelled brick shafts.

The west elevation has a gable end and is of three visible storeys. The red brickwork is patterned with grey headers and there is a deep stone plinth. The corner quoins to the south side alternate in size while those to the north side are more strip-like. The ground and first floor have a central tripartite casement window, and in the apex of the gable is a top-hinged single casement, all of which have leaded lights and are set into buff-brick architraves. The bargeboards of the gable are rather plain and appear to be 20th-century. The east elevation is of the same design as the west elevation, however the quoins to both sides alternate and the moulded bargeboards have a central pendant. The rear north elevation is only visible at its western end and probably represents the original external finish of the 18th-century house. There is a blind, recessed window opening to both storeys, infilled with diaper brickwork; the ground-floor opening is taller and has a carved buff-coloured keystone set into a brushed-brick flat arch and the first-floor opening has the remains of a flat brick arch. Further east is a small casement window with leaded lights.

The northern range is entered from the west where it is gable-ended with a moulded bargeboards. At ground-floor level there is an outshut with a slate roof. This has a tripartite casement window with leaded lights and a 20th-century glass-paned door, both under flat brick arches. To the north side of the main roof is a tall corbelled brick chimney stack, substantially rebuilt. The north side elevation has regular leaded-light casement windows (the easternmost example is plain and 20th-century), and is mainly tile hung to the first floor. At the west end the red brickwork has grey headers, but as it passes the chimney stack it becomes brown and plainer, suggesting that the range is of two phases. The east elevation has a tile-hung projecting gable with a single leaded-light casement window at the first-floor level. The gable has a moulded bargeboards and is supported by 20th-century posts on the ground floor. The undercroft is faced in brown brick and has a 20th-century glazed door.

The entrance hall has a pointed arch ceiling and a plain straight stair to the north. Within the envelope of the 18th-century range, most rooms have 19th-century four-panel or planked doors, architraves and skirting, the best examples being within the eastern sitting room and bedroom, which also includes fielded panelling. The fireplace surrounds are all 20th-century. The cellar has a brick floor and piers supporting chamfered spine beams. It has a mullioned window to the east end and a smaller timber example to the south side, and a blocked-up stair which rises to the west. The attic has a narrow and steep stair and wide floorboards. It has 20th-century pine panelling to the walls and ceiling, except at the east end where the timber-framed and lath and plaster construction is evident. The 19th and 20th-century range is more plain and the fixtures and fittings are predominantly 20th-century.