Spring Grove And Walled Garden Attached

Spring Grove and the attached walled garden is a house that now serves as a school. It dates from the mid-16th century and was refaced and extended in 1674 for Thomas Brett senior. The building features a timber frame that is clad and extended with red brick in irregular English bond, topped with a plain tiled front. It has two storeys, a basement, and an attic, with a parapet on the hipped roof that includes two recessed dormers and stacks on the left and rear right. The windows are regularly arranged, with six glazing bar sashes on each floor, taller on the ground floor. There is a glazed door on the right return in a glazed porch supported by Tuscan columns, and paired glazing bar sashes on both floors above. A dovecot is attached to the right return, while the left return features a 19th-century cast iron and valanced verandah and conservatory. The extensive wings at the rear date from the 18th to the 20th centuries.

Inside, there is an early 17th-century open well stair with a moulded handrail, finial, pendant newels, and large turned balustrades, which match the landing balustrade. A late 17th-century panelled room includes dado panels, a rail, and infill, all with beaded mouldings, along with a bolection moulded wooden fireplace featuring two pilasters on the overmantel. The late 18th-century cast iron fire grate has Neo-Classical motifs, and there is a contemporary fireplace and surround with fittings, including a false door for symmetry in the ballroom. An upper room displays exposed panelled framing, stop-chamfered ceiling joists, and a 16th-century stone four-centred arched fireplace. The cellars contain an open spring head or well.

Adjoining the house to the southwest is a walled garden measuring about 30 meters by 50 meters, with walls of red brick approximately 7 feet high. This site was home to Thomas Brett junior, L.L.D. (1667-1743), an eminent divine and controversial writer, and a Non-Juror bishop in 1716, where meetings and services were held. It also served as a temporary home for Joseph Conrad in 1919.