The Old House

The Old House

House with late 15th-century or earlier origins and a high-quality remodelling of the early 17th century, with late 20th-century repairs and rear addition. Framed construction with first floor tile-hung; peg-tile roof and brick stack.

The building has undergone complex evolution. Its present arrangement is approximately L-shaped and faces north. The main block is two rooms wide. The left-hand (east) end, with good early 17th-century features, is roofed on a west-east axis. The right-hand (west) room forms part of a two-cell west crosswing with a circa late 15th-century frame. The two rooms in the main block are heated from 17th-century back-to-back fireplaces in an axial stack, with a lobby entrance facing the chimneybreast. The room has a rear (south) outshut, and the crosswing has an outshut along its east side. The north cell of the crosswing was originally open to the roof timbers with a smoke bay at the north end. The south cell was always storeyed, probably with a stair in the south-west corner. The crosswing may represent the hall and storeyed lower end of a small late medieval house to which a high-quality 17th-century wing was added, with the axial stack introduced at the junction creating the present lobby entrance layout. However, some features of the frame at the east end suggest it may have been the medieval hall block, to which a late 15th-century parlour crosswing was added. The hall block was then thoroughly remodelled, raised, and partially rebuilt in the early 17th century. The existing plan is largely that of the early 17th century and includes a 17th-century stair in a projection to the rear (south) of the stack. The crosswing has been extended by a single-storey 20th-century one-room addition adjoining at the south-west.

The west end rises to two storeys and attic, with a two-storey crosswing. The roof is half-hipped at the left end and hipped at the right end. The stack has four staggered brick shafts. The early 17th-century features of the north (entrance) elevation are unusually well-preserved. An asymmetrical three-window front is presented, with the crosswing to the right having a lower roofline and gabled to the front. An early 17th-century two-storey bay window to the left has a lean-to roof and a pentice above the ground floor bay, which extends over the front door to the lobby entrance. This entrance has an early 17th-century ovolo-moulded door frame and probably contemporary plank door. The bay windows feature ovolo-moulded transoms and mullions, three-light to the outer face and one-light to the returns. The returns of the first-floor window are blocked with tile-hanging. The bay has a hand-made brick plinth. A 17th-century ovolo-moulded two-light first-floor window stands to the right of the front door. The gable end of the crosswing has nine-light early 17th-century ribbon windows to the first and ground floors with ovolo-moulded mullions. All windows are glazed with diamond leaded panes. Some of the casements are original and preserve their 17th-century catches and scrolled fastenings. The right (west) return has a 20th-century door and three-light casement into the crosswing outshut. The left (east) return has original 17th-century ovolo-moulded mullioned windows to ground and attic storeys; the first-floor window is a 20th-century replacement. The rear (south) elevation of the main block has 19th- or 20th-century windows, with a stair projection featuring a lean-to roof in the centre. The south-east outshut has been glazed on the south side in the 20th century with French windows.

The interior is rich in early features. On the ground floor these are mostly circa early 17th century, except probably for the joists in the south room of the crosswing, which has a trimmer beam in the ceiling of the south-west corner. The north room of the wing has a chamfered longitudinal beam, step-stopped at the end with run-out stops at the north end and exposed joists. The 17th-century brick fireplace has an original oak lintel. A later partition has been introduced in the wing, creating a passage out of the north room giving access to the east room. The early 17th-century east parlour is very complete, with an ovolo-moulded stopped longitudinal beam, exposed joists, and a fireplace with curved brick corners to the fireback and an ovolo-moulded lintel. The sole plate of the frame of the rear (south) wall is grooved for wattle and daub infill. The fine early 17th-century dog-leg staircase retains its original newel posts and handrail. It originally had no balusters. The chamber over the parlour also has an ovolo-moulded stopped longitudinal beam and a large original fireplace complete with lintel. The wall-framing is close-studded but preserves some unexpectedly large curved tension braces. These, along with evidence that the stair projection involved cutting through earlier framing on the rear wall, the rough finish of some wall posts, and two wall plates to the east end frame, suggest that it is an early 17th-century rebuilding of an earlier frame. The chamber over the south room of the crosswing has evidence of an unglazed three-light window with diagonally-set stanchions in the west wall. Both first-floor rooms in the crosswing have wall framing of massive scantling with curved tension braces.

The crosswing has a crown post roof construction, the post buried in the partition between the two rooms. The post is tall, unmoulded, and appears to be of square section with concave braces to the collar purlin and one visible convex brace to the tie-beam; a second brace may be concealed behind lath and plaster. At the north end of the north room, redundant mortises in the wall plates and collar purlin mark the depth of the smoke bay. The common rafters above in the roofspace are heavily sooted. The rafter couples have halved collars, and the whole early roof construction sits below a later roof. The roof over the east end is largely concealed, though one clasped purlin truss is visible.

The Old House is an evolved house of late medieval origins with high-status 17th-century internal and external features. It has group value with the barn to the west.