Sibton Park

House, now school. The building dates from circa 1602, with a late 18th-century facade and alterations, and work of circa 1898. It has a timber-framed core with a buff brick facade in Flemish bond and plain tile roofs.

The main structure comprises a main range of 5 timber-framed bays, a rear return wing to the left of approximately 3 timber-framed bays and a stack bay, and a timber-framed rear wing to the right. A 19th-century addition extends to the right gable end, consisting of two window-bays in series with the main range. The gaps between the two rear wings were infilled in stages.

The front range rises 3 storeys with no visible plinth, though a chamfered brick plinth appears at the left gable end. A plain parapet with ball finials crowns the facade; that to the right was repositioned with the right addition. The roof is gabled. A projecting 17th-century brick gable-end stack to the left features an English-bond base with Flemish bond above. A formerly projecting 17th-century stack originally occupied the gable end.

The front elevation displays a regular 7-window arrangement: 5 windows to the main range and 2 to the right addition. The attic storey features twelve-pane sashes with segmental heads, with the centre window of the main range distinguished by a moulded immediate and outer surround and secondary dropped cill. The first floor has twenty-four-pane sashes with straight heads and splayed rubbed brick voussoirs, except for a tripartite sash to the centre of the main range. Ground-floor windows match the first-floor pattern but feature two sashes closely flanking the door, creating an 8-window front overall. The central door to the main range has six fielded panels set in a panelled recess with a moulded architrave, plain frieze, and finely dentilled and moulded cornice. A Doric porch spanning the door and its flanking windows features four columns, a plain frieze, moulded and dentilled cornice, and a flat roof. A plaque dated 1602, said to denote Nicholas Sawkins, wool merchant, is mounted on the facade; this is a 20th-century copy of the original, which remains inside the house.

The rear return wing to the left shares the same eaves line as the main range but has a lower ridge. Its ground floor is faced with 19th-century red and grey brick in Flemish bond, whilst the first floor is tile-hung. A brick ridge stack rises in the second timber-framed bay from the main range. A bell cupola with weather-vane stands between the stack and the rear gable end. Three first-floor sashes light this wing. Nineteenth-century additions extend leftward from the rear of the wing, partly red brick and partly tile-hung, and return forwards for a short distance with two gables.

The rear wing to the right of the main range is faced with red and grey brick in Flemish bond with a dentilled brick eaves cornice. A multiflue brick stack rises beyond the eaves, which are slightly lower than the ridge. A broad projecting brick stack extends to the right side towards the rear. The roof is half-hipped to the rear. The gable end is tile-hung on the first floor. A narrow two-storey parallel rear range to the right addition features a rounded-headed staircase window in its right gable end. A curved single-storey flat-roofed bay infills the angle between the parallel rear range and the wing and extends into a 20th-century brick loggia.

Interior: The ground floor of the main range is divided into five bays by ovolo-moulded cross beams with panelled soffits, each bay with two axial beams and chamfered joists; the position of original partitions is uncertain. A moulded four-centred-arched stone fireplace with vase stops and an enriched wooden overmantel dated 1618 occupies the right end of the room. A moulded stone fireplace stands at the left end.

The front room of the rear left wing contains a similar stone fireplace dated 1616 with initials NS in shields in the spandrels. The rear room has a large blocked inglenook fireplace to the right wall and a tall 17th-century door of eight fielded panels re-used from elsewhere in the house. A moulded four-centred-arched stone fireplace, re-used in the front room of the rear right wing, is flanked by six carved 16th or 17th-century wooden panels, four depicting aspects of the life of Saint Ethelburga and two displaying linenfold decoration; these are said to have been obtained from Canterbury Cathedral.

A three-light ovolo-moulded mullion first-floor window on the right side of the rear left wing and some exposed framing survive. Chamfered axial beams are visible throughout. Eighteenth-century panelled doors occur in various locations, and late 18th-century wooden fireplaces appear in several rooms. An 18th-century open-well staircase with turned balusters occupies the narrow parallel rear range and may have been moved there from elsewhere in the house. Stained glass quarries ornament the rear right window.