Willington Court

Willington Court is a house built in 1896 as an attempt to faithfully reproduce a late medieval Kentish Wealden hall-house, incorporating features intended to appear 17th century. The construction combines partially structural timber framing with plaster infill, and red brick (some herringbone) on a ragstone plinth, all under a tiled roof. The building’s form is a two-bay Wealden hall-house, which is jettied on all sides with a rear outshot and a two-storey porch obscuring the right-hand hall bay.

The house has two storeys and attics, with four windows on the front. The bay to the left of the porch has a ground floor of red brick in stretcher bond and a first floor of close-studded timber framing with plaster infill. This section is jettied and supported by a carved wooden bracket incorporating a rose and a pelican. To the right of this is a two-storey red brick 'hall bay' with square framing, featuring a triple casement window to the first floor and two four-light mullioned and transomed windows. The portion to the right of the porch is timber framed throughout with plaster infill, with a floral carved bracket to the jetty and triple casement windows on each floor. The two-storey projecting timber-framed porch, located in the position of the second hall bay, has a gable, carved bargeboards, a small square leaded light to the attic, and a four-light mullioned and transomed casement to the first floor, featuring a coved panel with a blank shield and the legend 'Willington Court'. The ground floor has dummy windows, and the porch includes seats and a doorcase with a moulded architrave and broach stops. A plank door is fitted with large decorative hinges. The roof is hipped and tiled, with two triple dormers and carved bargeboards. A cruciform central brick chimneystack rises from the roof.

The left side elevation is timber framed and plastered, and incorporates a six-light oriel window with a coved overhang bearing plaster decoration of Tudor roses on the first floor. A similar bay of eight lights is on the ground floor. The right side elevation is also timber framed, with a first-floor seven-light canted bay flanked by side lights, and a ground-floor six-light square bay also flanked by side lights. The rear elevation includes an eight-light dormer and a brick catslide extension to the right, along with an early 20th-century brick and glazed conservatory to the left.

The Dining Room contains a plastered four-centred arch to the fireplace, with brattishing and spandrels decorated with Tudor roses. The ceiling features thick spine beams with criss-cross ribbing, and two cupboard doors at each side of the fireplace, which may be genuine reused 17th-century panels. The staircase, dated 1898, has moulded balusters and corner posts with carving of a typical 17th-century style. Some of the panelling at the base of the staircase may also be 17th-century plank and muntin panelling. Willington Court is listed as a notable example of the Kentish Vernacular Revival style, demonstrating late 19th-century knowledge of Wealden houses.