Chequers

Chequers is a house dating from around the late 15th or early 16th century, with alterations and extensions made around the early 17th century, and remodelling and further extensions in the early to mid-19th century, and again in the 1870s and early 20th century. It is constructed of brick in various bonds, with clay plain tile roofs and gabled ends. Brick axial and gable-end stacks are present.

The rear wing reveals the original two-and-a-half bays of the medieval house, with its south bay truncated and replaced by an early 18th-century brick range facing south. This southern range was refenestrated in the early to mid-19th century and extended to the rear around the same time. A cross-wing containing a drawing room was added in the 1870s, and a further extension was built at the rear in the early 20th century.

The south front is asymmetrical, featuring three bays on the left and a 3-bay early 18th-century range. This range has a header bond brick front, corbelled brick eaves, and 19th-century sash windows with 16 panes to the first floor and tall French casements on the ground floor. A panelled and glazed door sits on the right, accompanied by a Victorian verandah with a tent-shaped corrugated-iron canopy supported by cast-iron posts with ornate spandrels. Dormers with wrought-iron casements and leaded panes are also present. A large Victorian gabled cross-wing is situated to the right. The west elevation features three gables and a circa early 20th-century two-bay range with 16- and 12-pane sashes. The rear north elevation reveals a brick wing and a medieval wing with exposed timber-framing in the gable end and brick side wall of various bonds, including some earlier brickwork.

The interior of the early 18th-century south front range features chamfered beams on the ground and first floors, with long cyma stops, and re-used 18th-century staircase balustrade leading to the attic. The range behind contains an early to mid-19th-century staircase with stick balusters and a mahogany handrail. The drawing room features a Victorian classical chimneypiece and a moulded ceiling cornice. The early 18th-century south range retains a tenoned-purlin roof structure. The rear wing incorporates a two-and-a-half bay clasped-purlin roof structure with common-rafter couples, while the south bay is smoke-blackened and truncated. This is an interesting house showing development over many centuries, originating in the medieval period.