Dukes Place

Duke’s Place is a hall house dating back to the early 15th century, originally built as a preceptory of the Knight’s Hospitallers, according to Hasted, founded in 1405 by John Culpepper. Examination suggests the hall was destroyed by fire around 1500. In the 18th century, it was converted into seven labourers' cottages and was restored from semi-dereliction after the Second World War. The building is now L-shaped and two stories high. It comprises an early hall house of Wealden type joined to a later south wing at the southeast corner. Timber framing with plaster infilling sits upon a stone plinth, topped with a plain tiled hipped roof.

The south front features a first-floor projection with curved braces to the left, displaying casements on both floors. The hall is centrally located with a two-storey window to the left and a high-level four-light window to the right. A boarded door, featuring a four-centred arch, leads into the hall’s cross-passage. The west front is jettied, supported by a central post and dragon-posts at each end. Jettied projections with wind-braced gables are found at both ends of the first floor, incorporating small oriels on the first floor of each gable bay. A five-light lattice casement sits below the jetty to the left. A central eaved cornice is supported by posts, some of which are jowled, and beams. A two-storey bay window, set on a brick plinth, has been recently added to the right.

An early 16th-century door, boarded with a four-centred arch and winged rosettes in the spandrels, leads to the cross passage. The east side exhibits jetties, with a moulded dragon-post to the right, and a single-storey lean-to addition to the left. The south range is likely from the 17th century, with a hipped tiled roof and two ridge stacks. The east front displays close-studded framing with irregular casement windows, predominantly introduced during the cottage conversion. The west front incorporates some jowled posts on the first floor, jetties on joists, and curved wind-braces above. Overall fenestration is irregular on both floors, with a low, rounded-arch doorway to the left on the ground floor. A later addition to the south wing is set forward and has narrow framing.

The hall was reopened during the post-war restoration and reveals a fine tie-beam truss roof with a moulded crown post. A moulded great post with shafts and a moulded beam around the hall run to a stop at the dais and by the curved faces. The wall above the buttery and pantry doors features arched braces and carpenter’s marks. Paired buttery and pantry doors have three-centred arched heads. A large 16th-century fireplace has a brick breast with a carved bressummer. Early 15th-century timber work is present in the parlour, buttery and pantry, with the solar’s timberwork dating from the time of the addition of the north-facing gables. Shallow pointed arches surround fireplaces in the parlour and solar. A staircase is present within the solar. One 16th-century stone fireplace, with a five-centred arched surround, is found on the ground floor of the south wing, and another with a chamfered bressummer, likely from the later 16th century. A mid-16th-century stone fireplace with a shallow four-centred arch sits on the first floor of this wing, along with a crown post displaying unusual square moulding.