Gore Court

Gore Court

House, formerly a school, now a house, situated in Otham on the east side of Church Road. Built in the late 15th or early 16th century, with substantial late 16th-century additions (possibly extending into the 17th century) and further alterations in the late 18th century. A late 14th or early 15th-century cellar survives, probably belonging to an earlier building on the site.

The structure is timber-framed, rendered, and covered with plain tiles. The original plan comprises an open hall with two integral cross-wings projecting slightly to the rear. The hall itself consists of two equal-length timber-framed bays, unsubdivided on the ground floor, and possibly featured jettying to the front (west) elevation and a stair turret to the rear. The right (south) cross-wing was formerly jettied to the front, extends slightly further to the rear than the north wing, and contains a relatively small room to the front and a larger room to the rear, with a passage connecting the two and leading south from the hall towards the former gable end of the house.

A separate timber-framed structure of two or possibly three bays, set east-west approximately six metres south of the former gable end and extending about two metres further west, possibly served as a kitchen. This structure is jettied to its north side only, facing the main house. The gap between the house and this "kitchen" was infilled in the late 16th or early 17th century, at which point the jetty of the south cross-wing was underbuilt. The right cross-wing received a two-and-a-half-storey rectangular bay to the front, dated T.H. 1577, and the gap between the cross-wings to the rear of the hall was infilled with a two-storey section, possibly because the hall lacked a floor. Windows and first-floor ceilings were substantially altered in the late 1780s or 1790s, and a further bay was added to the south side of the "kitchen".

A later service wing running east from the east gable end of the "kitchen" stands two storeys high with cellars, built on a chamfered rendered plinth.

The north cross-wing features a two-and-a-half-storey rectangular bay to its front, dating from the late 16th century and jettied to the first floor and gable. This bay displays plaster moulding and coving under the jetties, with its gable raised above the eaves of the wing. The gable is finished with pierced and carved bargeboards and a moulded pendant. A two-storey rectangular bay fronting the north timber-framed bay of the hall, possibly of 15th or 16th-century origins, has a restored close-studded gable above the hall eaves. A shallow two-storey late 16th or later rectangular bay fronts the south cross-wing, with an eaves gable above. A narrow two-storey rectangular bay with a similar gable sits in the angle between the infilled section and the front gable end of the "kitchen".

The eaves of the north cross-wing are higher than those of the hall, possibly raised in 1577, with the roof hipped to the front. The south cross-wing has an eaves-line similar to the hall with the roof hipped to the front; the hip returns to the right (south) along the infilled section. The west gable end of the "kitchen" projects slightly but maintains the same eaves line, with the roof hipped to the front; the hip returns south along the added south end bay, which is gabled to the south with a lower ridge. A central rear stack to the hall contains two corbelled and filleted brick flues joined across the top and set on a moulded plinth. Four further stacks are positioned to the south side of each room of the south cross-wing, to the later rear service wing, and to the south side of the "kitchen".

The fenestration is irregular, with 11 windows in total, all but two from the late 18th century. Four tripartite sashes are present: one to the jettied first-floor bay of the north wing, one to the projecting bay of the south wing, one to the infilled section, and one to the "kitchen". Four narrow two-storey Gothick lights include one pair set between panelled pilasters to the projecting bay of the north timber-framed bay of the hall, and two widely-spaced examples to the south timber-framed bay. A ten-light mullioned and transomed window lights the porch, a cross-window appears in the projection of the south end of the infilled section, and a twelve-pane sash window is present to the south end bay.

A two-storey jettied close-studded porch with a panelled door projects from the south end of the hall. This porch was rebuilt in the late 19th or early 20th century.

On the rear elevation, four late 16th or early 17th-century jettied gables project: one to the rear of each cross-wing and two to the rear of the hall, the latter two supported on scrolled brackets. A canted weatherboarded bay with a tall Gothick light sits beneath the gable of the south wing. The rear service wing is topped with a bell cupola.

Internally, the hall retains no inserted floor and features rendered walls. Three service doors of hollow-chamfered design with four-centred arches and hollow spandrels occupy the centre of the south end wall; similar front and rear doorways appear elsewhere. The central service passage within the south wing has exposed walls. The front service room displays broad joists, whilst the ground floor of the north wing has a hollow-chamfered cross-beam and broad joists with evidence for front and rear walls. The "kitchen" retains exposed framing and jetty. Late 16th-century three-light ogee-moulded mullioned frieze windows are blocked; parts of similar side-lights to the rectangular bay window fronting the north wing survive. Exposed late 16th or early 17th-century framing with evidence for a deep central window with frieze windows appears on the front of the south wing and infilled section, with joists of the same period in the infilled area.

A moulded rectangular doorway of late 16th or early 17th-century date is positioned beyond the rear doorway of the hall, probably within a concealed outer wall of the infilled section behind the hall. Four late 16th-century four-centred arched moulded stone fireplaces with hollow spandrels are present: one to the rear of the hall with a wooden overmantel, one to the rear service room, one (possibly moved) to the first floor over the front service room, and one to the first floor of the "kitchen".

The hall contains a rebated central crown-post on a hollow-chamfered tie-beam with short solid-spandrel braces. A late 18th-century geometrical staircase is positioned to the rear of the infilled section. The majority of the first floor is plastered, with at least four first-floor rooms retaining late 18th or early 19th-century plaster ceilings domed in a variety of shapes.

A broad flight of stone steps descends to the cellar beneath the north wing, with a hollow-chamfered, broach-stopped stone doorway jamb at the bottom. The north-east corner of the cellar is accessed by a tight, narrow stone newel staircase, featuring a bevelled pointed-arched stone doorway and tooled stone jambs.

The house was described by Hasted in 1798 as "modernized". It represents a building of unusual plan and dimensions for the area.