Court Lodge And The Dairy House

Court Lodge and the Dairy House

This is a late 17th-century farmhouse, now converted to a dwelling, located on the west side of Yalding High Street. It is built of chequered red and grey brick and is of double-depth plan with two storeys, a cellar, and two tiers of attics.

The front elevation is distinguished by chamfered brick plinths, a rendered plat band, and a shallow central break with rendered rusticated quoins. Similar quoins frame the outer ends of the front. A moulded wooden eaves cornice runs along the top, and the roof is gabled to right and left, with a brick gable over the central break (possibly formerly corniced) whose ridge sits only slightly lower than the main range. Two gable-ended dormer windows feature moulded wooden cornices, pedimented gables, and leaded two-light casements.

A small blocked window sits towards the apex of the central gable, with a leaded two-light casement and splayed rubbed brick voussoirs below it, beneath which a Fire Insurance plaque is positioned. The front face displays a regular row of seven windows with slightly recessed leaded wooden cross windows finished with splayed rubbed brick voussoirs and raised painted keystones with cornices breaking forwards. Three windows align with the central break and two flank each side. The ground floor windows follow the same pattern, though the left end window on each level is blocked. Cellar windows are set under the plinth with splayed rubbed brick voussoirs.

The central entrance door comprises four panels and two top lights, surmounted by a two-light rectangular fanlight. A heavy flat corniced hood with a moulded pedimented gable shelters the doorway, which is reached by four steps with plain iron handrails. Red and grey brick gable end stacks rise prominently from the roof.

The rear elevation mirrors the front with a similar central door but lacks quoins and cornice. First-floor, lower attic, and upper attic windows have segmental heads, and the door hood is corniced but unpedimented.

To the left (south) stands the Dairy House, a 1½-storey section of similar date, set back from the main front elevation. Built of red and grey brick partly in Flemish bond, with a gabled plain tile roof, it features a large central brick gable and a tall stack adjoining the main range. A three-light ground-floor casement and a panelled door accessed by steps from the left gable end complete its exterior.

The interior contains an open-well principal staircase with turned balusters, moulded handrail, and closed string, rising to the first floor from the rear of the entrance hall within the right (north) side of the central rear break. A dog-leg service staircase with turned balusters and moulded handrail rises from the cellar to the upper attic, accessed from a lobby within the left side of the central rear break.

Principal rooms are accessed through broad pegged doorways from the landing, including the former principal first-floor room, a rear right room, and a corridor within the left section. Panelled doors are throughout. The front and rear right ground-floor rooms and front left and right first-floor rooms are equipped with elliptical brick fireplaces featuring chamfered bressumers. The front left ground-floor room has a large rectangular brick fireplace, as does the front right room in the cellar. The front left and right ground-floor rooms are spanned by broad unchambered cross beams with relatively thin-scantling joists. Broad floorboards extend throughout, including the attics.

Each attic level possesses collars and aligned butt purlins.