Great Cheveney House Great Cheveney House South

Great Cheveney House is a substantial timber-framed house of 15th-century origin, substantially modified and extended through the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. The building comprises a complex of interconnected ranges reflecting its long development.

The core is a 15th-century open hall of two timber-framed bays, originally with storeyed end bays. The right end bay was rebuilt or extended in the 15th or early 16th century as a cross-wing projecting to the rear (the central rear wing). In the late 16th or early 17th century, the left end bay was altered and a three-bay timber-framed cross-wing added to its left side, also projecting rearward (the left wing). A two-bay timber-framed front wing projecting forward from the front elevation was constructed in the mid 17th century. The right hall bay was refaced, and the right end bay was rebuilt except for its rearward projection, then extended to the right in 1747 (the main range).

The building is two storeys with an attic and basement. The left wing features red and grey brick in Flemish bond to the front, with brick infilling to broadly-spaced timber studs on its left side at ground floor and tile-hanging to the first floor. A continuous jetty runs along the long left side of this wing, with the roof hipped to the front, slightly lower eaves than the front wing, and half-hipped to the rear. The front wing and central rear wing are brick-built at ground floor (part of the front wing in English bond) with tile-hanging above. The main range and right side of the front wing are red brick in Flemish bond with thin mortar joints, featuring a plat band and boxed eaves. The front wing roof is hipped to the front with the same eaves line as the main range; the central rear wing is half-hipped to the rear. The main range is roofed in two spans with a hip to the right end.

The roofs are plain tile throughout. An early-to-mid 17th-century stack with three octagonal flues on a moulded rectangular plinth sits across the ridge towards the centre of the left wing. A projecting early-to-mid 17th-century brick stack in English bond with moulded brick cornice to the base of its rectangular flue stands to the left side of the front wing. A further brick stack sits in the rear roof slope towards the left end of the main range. The main range features two hipped dormers.

The fenestration is irregular. The front gable end of the left wing has one four-light diamond-mullion window and one small six-paned light. The main range has three recessed 16-pane sashes, one to the left and two to the right of the door. The right side of the front wing has two recessed 16-pane sashes. Ground-floor windows of the main range have splayed rubbed brick voussoirs. Further wood-mullion windows survive to the rear of the wings. A boarded door under a flat bracketed hood opens from the front gable end of the left wing. A panelled door with two top lights sits in a panelled recess with flat bracketed hood at the left end of the former storeyed right end bay. Another panelled door opens to the rear of the hall. A brick over a ground-floor window of the main range is carved with the initials E·M and the date 1747. A sash window to the right gable end has scratched on its pane the date 1761 and the name James (possibly Peachy).

The interior, partially inspected, displays exposed timber framing with chamfered beams. The former open hall retains a smoke-blackened crown-post roof with an octagonal crown post having a square moulded capital and base. The central rear wing has a moulded octagonal crown post. The left and front wings have clasped-purlin roofs, while the right end bays feature staggered butt purlin roofing. A late 16th or early 17th-century fireplace stands at the left end of the hall. A slightly later stack in the left wing contains a plain brick ground-floor fireplace, an elliptical brick first-floor fireplace with a canted bressumer, and bears a graffiti date of 1656 in the attic. A plank and muntin partition from the right end of the hall has been reused as shelves. The right hall bay retains 17th-century panelling to its ground floor. Sections of a 17th-century staircase with splat balusters and moulded handrail survive, along with three-plank doors. A lath-and-plaster partition in the attic of the front wing is said to have been a pen for fighting cocks. The ground floor of the front wing contains a complete brick stack, bread oven, and copper stand. Panelled 18th-century internal shutters remain to the ground-floor windows of the main range.