Sutton Baron And Sutton Baron Hall

Sutton Baron and Sutton Baron Hall are a group of buildings, originally a house, dating from the 15th century to the 18th century. The building is timber framed, with some exposed framing, some plastered, and structural red brick. The roofs are covered in plain tiles. The building began as a Wealden hall house, with a mid-17th century wing added to the rear for Robert Plot the elder (died 1669), and an early 18th century red brick wing added to that. The front facing the road is two storeys high with a hipped roof, and the left-hand wing has a separate hipped roof. There are two projecting tile-hung gables toward the right, and a stack at the centre of the rear. The fenestration is irregular, with five windows: two glazing bar sash windows to the left and three wood casements to the right on the first floor, and two French windows and two wood casements on the ground floor. A half-glazed door is within a one-storey gabled porch in the centre of the right-hand side, bearing a plaque reading "P Left". The rear return front shows a restored Wealden house with exposed close-studded timber framing of four bays, with a red-brick extension to the right. It has two storeys, with a plinth to the right, a jettied overhang to the left and right, a flying wall plate on arched braces over the recessed central bays, a hipped roof with gablets, and stacks at the centre of the rear and at the end on the right. The fenestration is irregular, with four wood casements on the first floor, blocked mullioned lights to the right, and two wood casements, a central brick and wood mullioned segmental bay window, a 20th-century mullioned window to the right, and a segmental-headed casement at the end on the ground floor. A 20th-century plank door is in the centre to the right. The interior of the 18th century wing is panelled, with some 17th century panelling and a late 17th century staircase, as well as a carved overmantel and wall paintings (covered pending restoration). Dr. Robert Plot (1640-96), an antiquary and the first secretary to the Royal Society, was born, lived, and died in the house.