Hadlow Place

Hadlow Place is a mansion of early to mid-16th century origin, significantly developed through the 16th and 17th centuries, with a major refurbishment in the late 17th century. The building was thoroughly modernised around 1970 with the addition of a new entrance hall and library wing. The older parts are timber-framed on sandstone footings, though mostly plastered. Some sections feature early English bond brickwork, while late 17th-century work and 20th-century additions employ Flemish bond brick, the former containing occasional burnt headers. The building has brick stacks and chimney shafts with a peg-tile roof.

The house faces south-west onto the garden with an irregular plan that reflects successive building phases. The front range embodies a three-room arrangement, with an entrance porch positioned left of centre providing direct entry into the left end of the hall, which has a rear lateral stack. The parlour occupies the north-west end with its own rear lateral stack, while a former kitchen sits to the right in a crosswing. The kitchen originally projected forward but was taken back flush with the main front around 1970; it also projects to the rear with an end stack. Behind the kitchen crosswing runs a range parallel to the front, projecting on both sides of the kitchen. At ground floor level this contains service rooms now used as the 20th-century kitchen, with a stair alongside the stack. The first floor originally housed a long narrow room heated by a fireplace backing onto the kitchen stack, resembling a small long gallery and since subdivided. Behind the hall stands the present main entrance hall and staircase, with a library behind the parlour, both new-built around 1970.

Much evidence of the early house's development remains hidden or has been removed. The front range appears to be the historic core, possibly an early to mid-16th-century three-room-and-through-passage plan hall house, though most exposed carpentry suggests later 16th and early 17th-century dates. The gallery block dates to the mid-17th century, and the front was faced with brick in the late 17th century.

The building rises two storeys with attics in the roofspace. The asymmetrical south-west front displays a 2:1:3-window arrangement, with all windows featuring low segmental brick arches. The right-end two-window section was rebuilt around 1970 in matching style, containing 16-pane sashes. Other windows are 19th-century or replacements. The hall window, positioned right of the porch, is a large tripartite sash containing a central 20-pane sash. The first-floor window above and the parlour window to the left are tripartite sashes with central 12-pane sashes, while first-floor windows left of the porch contain 12-pane sashes. The first-floor porch window is a casement with glazing bars. The front porch doorway is surprisingly small and holds a 20th-century Tudor-style door. A flat band runs across the front at first-floor level. The projecting brick eaves cornice includes a frieze of cogged bricks. The roof is hipped at both ends, with a hipped porch roof. The south-eastern side wall displays close-studded framing at first-floor level. The gallery wing projects to the right with a late 16th or early 17th-century brick side wall and hipped roof. Its end features a contemporary oak four-light ovolo-moulded mullioned window with central transom, moulded sill and plastered coved brackets, with another in the rear wall. The plastered south-eastern side of the rear wall contains two 17th or early 18th-century first-floor windows with rectangular panes of old leaded glass. Near the right end, a gabled half-dormer is jettied with deep overhanging eaves on shaped timber brackets. The remainder of the rear is the 20th-century entrance and library, featuring a doorway with double panelled Tudor-style doors behind a flat-roofed Tuscan porch. The library follows the front style with various 12 and 16-pane sashes.

Although substantially modernised, the interior structure of the older parts appears largely intact, with much carpentry hidden by later plaster. The parlour and hall contain stone Tudor arch fireplaces with moulded surrounds and carved spandrels, the latter including the initials HA. Plainer versions appear in the chambers above. The parlour is lined with high-quality oak linenfold panelling; the overmantel features expertly carved panels depicting a coat of arms, profiles and figures. The hall has a chamfered axial beam with bar-scroll stops and moulded joists, probably dating to the early to mid-17th century. Kitchen beams are chamfered with step stops, with the fireplace now blocked. One chamber above is lined with 17th-century oak small field panelling. The stair to the gallery wing has been mended and rearranged but remains substantially late 17th-century with splat balusters. The gallery features date from the first half of the 17th century, including a large stone fireplace with Tudor arch and moulded surround; one spandrel carries the initials of Henry Vane. Oak doorways flanking either side have moulded surrounds with a form of urn stops and contain good ancient doors. A broad moulded oak cornice runs around the room, stepping up over the windows.

The gallery roof structure is plastered over. The kitchen wing roof was replaced following a fire. The roof over the front range is late 17th-century, comprising a series of tie-beam trusses with curving collars, evidence of raking struts and butt purlins. The parlour-end truss has a broad straight collar moulded on its inner lower edge, of unknown purpose. The kitchen-end truss may be earlier, featuring clasped side purlins.

Hadlow Place is an impressive small mansion displaying considerable 16th and 17th-century craftsmanship. According to the previous list description, it was once moated. The property was occupied by the important Vane family throughout the 16th and 17th centuries.