Stanbridge Earls

Stanbridge Earls is a medium-sized country house, now used as a school. The site has a history of Saxon occupation, with continuous residence from the 13th century. By the mid-14th century, a substantial stone-built hall existed, featuring an east tower and a south chapel, elements of which largely remain. Additions were made around 1840, followed by a significant series of additions in 1895, and in the 20th century, service wings were added, although on a smaller scale and in a similar style.

The north front is constructed of ashlar from the medieval building. A west-side extension is in roughcast. The stonework of the north-east corner, originally the tower, returns on the east and south (part), with a recessed roughcast section separating it from a c.1895 south-side wing constructed of brickwork in English bond. The south range is also of brickwork in English bond, except for the middle section of the ground-floor walling, which is of stone and flint with stone dressings, representing the south wall of the chapel. The later work is rendered. The building has a tile roof with Tudor stacks dating to c.1900.

The main (north) front is symmetrical, consisting of two storeys and an attic, with a 1.5.1 window arrangement which is irregular in the recessed centre, and 1.3.1 gables, four of which date to the 17th century and are rendered. The walls are ashlar, except for the west side. The windows are predominantly mid-17th century, featuring oak mullion and transom windows of varying sizes. A gabled porch, dated 1658, is located in the centre.

The east elevation presents as two tall gabled blocks, each with a single window. The north side is the medieval tower, while the south is of similar form in brickwork in English bond, separated by a recess above a half-glazed porch (1895).

The south elevation has gabled projections (1895) at each side, both two storeys and attic, with one window each. The central section is of c.1840, although the lower half of the ground floor is the medieval chapel, containing four coupled stone windows. To the west of the main block, the service additions (c.1900 and later) are lower in height but two-storeyed, in a vernacular style. These irregular units surround a small courtyard, entered through an archway.

The interior contains some 17th-century oak panelling, alongside rooms with pine panelling (early 19th century). A stone Tudor fireplace, likely reset, is also present, and an upper room features the arch-braced main truss of the probable medieval solar.