Brook House

Brook House is a house dating back to the 16th century or earlier, with alterations from the 17th, 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. It is timber-framed, with the front elevation rendered. Exposed framing with plaster infilling is visible on the ground floor of the left cross-wing. The roof is covered in plain tiles.

The original house comprised a 16th or earlier cross-wing to the left, built with two timber-framed bays. The central section, dating to the late 16th or early 17th century, has three timber-framed bays, including a central stack bay, and was likely of lobby entry plan. It probably originally included a further bay or wing to the right, which has since been replaced. The present right cross-wing is of a similar plan and date to the central section, but appears to have been brought from elsewhere and is framed separately, with its former long outside wall abutting the main section. A short rear addition from the late 18th or early 19th century fills in the re-entrant angle.

The house is two storeys and has an attic. The first floor of the left cross-wing is jettied. The ground floor of the left wing features close-studded framing with arch-braces. The right cross-wing is flush with the main range on the front. Each cross-wing has a gable, and the left wing has a lower ridge. A multiple-filleted brick ridge stack is located to the left of centre and a brick stack is on the right slope of the roof towards the rear of the right wing. There are two gabled eaves dormers on the main range; the one on the left has a small two-light casement. A three-light window with diamond-shaped subsidiary lights is set within the gable of the right wing. The windows are irregularly placed, with four casements, one three-light and one four-light in each wing, and one four-light beneath each dormer. A blocked four-light diamond mullion window is on the ground floor of the left wing. A ten-light ovolo-moulded mullioned and transomed window is at the left end of the main range, with a two-light mullioned window on either side at different levels. A four-light casement with a moulded cornice and a two-light mullioned frieze window are at the right end of the main range. A corniced three-light casement is on the ground floor of the right wing. Further ovolo-moulded mullion windows are on the rear elevation, as is a canted 19th-century bay window. A ribbed wooden door with a flat hood is located beneath the stack, and a half-glazed door with a flat bracketed hood is at the junction of the main range and right wing.

The interior reveals exposed framing, a plain chamfered crown-post in the cross-wing, and chamfered beams and joists in the central section. There are chamfer-stopped stone fireplaces with wooden bressumers in the main range and right wing. A blocked four-light mullioned window is visible on the south wall of the right wing, within the present building. The late 18th-century staircase features lightly-moulded balusters and a chinoiserie top gate, situated in the rear addition.