Grove Place House Northcliffe School

This is an Elizabethan mansion house, dating from the mid-16th century, with alterations made in the late 18th century and minor changes and restoration in 1895. The walls are of English garden wall bond brick, with a stone coping to the parapet and a weathered stone band. A stone moulded plinth band runs around the base, and reveals to the original openings are chamfered, while altered openings have rubbed flat arches. The roof is tiled with gables and hipped dormers. The building follows an E-plan, with a central two-story block with attic space, and projecting wings on each side. These wings have chamfered corners, with octagonal stair turrets filling the internal angles. Massive, tapered brick stacks are attached to the rear (four in total) and to each wing (two on each), featuring separated diagonal flues grouped in sets of two, three, four, or five, and dating from circa 1900.

The recessed, three-bay south front has a gable containing an attic casement, flanked by a dormer set behind the parapet. Above a carved coat of arms on the first floor’s centre is a hoodmould, and original stone mullion and transom windows with eight leaded lights are on either side. The ground floor has matching oak windows, and a stone doorway (circa 1900) is flanked by three windows with a Tudor arch above. The flanking elevations facing the entrance forecourt also have central gables, a central 18th-century sash window on the first floor, and a ground-floor mullion and transom window with six lights, on the inner side; the original three-bay configuration on this elevation has been altered. The tall, octagonal turrets have crenellated parapets, stone mullioned windows at the top on each face, and lower windows with oak mullioned frames, some now filled. The south ends of the wings have two bays below a central gable with one casement, with 18th-century sash windows, and casements to the ground floor on the west side. The side and rear elevations are dominated by the chimney stacks, with an irregular pattern of windows in between, which are mostly 18th-century sashes but with some circa 1900 casements.

Inside, there are rooms with original oak panelling and others with 18th-century pine panelling. Several rooms contain stone Tudor fireplaces, one with an overmantel, and there is also a 18th-century fireplace. Original plaster strapwork ceilings remain, and the turrets retain their staircases, one of which is a circular design constructed from massive timber.