Jarvis Brook, Rotherfield Hall

Rotherfield Hall is a substantial house built in 1535 and extended during the 17th century, with major alterations and additions made in 1897 by the architect Francis Inigo Thomas for Lindsay Lindsay-Hogg. The building stands on the east side of Treblers Road near Rotherfield.

The house is constructed in coursed squared stone for the earlier work, with 19th-century additions in middlestone brought to course; all elevations feature ashlar dressings. Brick chimney stacks support plain tile roofs. The design developed in stages, with the northern half originally built as a square plan around a central courtyard, the north and east ranges possibly being the earliest components. The southern half was added in 1897 in matching architectural style. The building presents two storeys with an attic storey and eleven bays in total, with the five northernmost bays representing the earliest construction phase.

Windows throughout are fitted with hollow-moulded architraves and cyma-moulded hoodmoulds (except those set below eaves). Stone mullions and transoms are present on most windows, which typically contain two or three lights on the main elevations.

The east or entrance elevation features a central full-height gabled porch dated "L/H/A 1897", with stone steps leading to a round-arched, nail-studded, panelled door sheltered by a canopy supported by columns with ball-on-cushion finials. Above the door is a three-light window with a tripartite keystone in the tympanum of a segmental pediment. Bays 3 and 9 contain embattled two-storey projecting bays, each with a three-light Perpendicular-style ground-floor window with decorative panel above, and a gabled attic dormer (the dormer to bay 9 is dated "1669"). Mullioned cellar windows appear at bays 8 and 10. An external stack between right-hand windows features an offset buttress and old brick chimney; other stacks rise from the roof ridge, rear roof line, and left side. Ball finials crown the gables, and the roof is hipped.

The west or garden elevation features a central full-height gabled porch with a round archway to an internal porch. A datestone reading "1535" appears at the left end, with some single-light windows nearby. At the right end is a wide opening with a central column leading to a first-floor loggia. Two hipped-roofed dormers punctuate this elevation. The right return contains three four-light windows on each floor and blocked three-light cellar windows to left and right; three buttresses with offsets carry inscribed stones: "SS/1666" to the left, "LLH/&/ALH" at centre, and "LH/1891" to the right. The left return displays a three-bay hipped-roofed projection with three rusticated round-arched openings to the ground floor and a two-columned loggia on the first floor; doors and windows here feature small-paned glazing.

Interior features of principal interest concentrate in the earlier northern section. On the ground floor, the rear right-hand room contains a stone Tudor-arched fireplace with leafy spandrels, a datestone reading "1535", and a similarly-dated moulded wooden cornice. Nail-studded panelled doors with raised lozenges and elaborately-decorated architraves appear throughout; similar fireplaces occur in the hall and front right-hand room, the latter also retaining 16th-century-style panelling. The rear range at the left end preserves an old inglenook fireplace with a panelled surround of 1908. A 19th-century stair, executed in 17th-century style, occupies a principal position.

On the first floor, the front range displays jewelled wall posts supporting large-scantling cross-beams with stepped, cyma stops. The right range contains a moulded stone Tudor-arched fireplace to the rear room. The rear range features large-scantling chamfered beams with pyramidal, cyma stops. The left range retains a corniced hollow-moulded single-light window in what was formerly an external wall.

The roof structure comprises collared principal rafter trusses and bridle-jointed rafters. Chamfered butt purlins, staggered in the right range, appear throughout. The left end of the rear range was formerly hipped, and rafters formerly existing between the rear and left ranges have been removed, evidencing distinct building phases.

The original house was built for the Fowles family, who acquired their wealth through the iron industry. The architectural character extends into the garden setting, also designed by Inigo Thomas and separately listed Grade II* in the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of Special Interest.