Bettenham Manor And Oast To The West

Bettenham Manor is a hall-house that has been converted into a house, located with a granary and three roundels attached to the west. It dates back to the 15th century, with later alterations including 18th and 19th-century elevations, a 17th-century eastern extension, and an early 19th-century granary featuring two roundels and one roundel from the 19th century. The structure is timber framed with brick elevations on the ground floor and tile hanging on the first floor, except for the granary, which is weatherboarded. The roofs are plain tiled.

The south front has a roof with a hipped return gable to the left and a half-hipped gable of the granary at the entrance on the left. There is a tall brick stack to the right of the kitchen gable on the main ridge. The hipped gable is part of the 'Wealden' hall-house, which is set back within the building. The manor has two storeys with irregular fenestration, featuring four windows on the first floor and three on the ground floor, all of which are 19th-century casements. A boarded door is located in the center. At the rear, the half house block is jettied and now clad in weatherboarding, with a catslide outshut in the angle behind the 17th-century block. The granary projects to the right and ends in a pair of parallel roundels, with a third roundel to the west. These structures are made of red brick with tiled eaves and weatherboarded cowls and wind-vanes.

Inside, there is a substantial timber frame with inserted floors that feature lambs-tongue stops to chamfered beams, and two large fireplaces—one with a later 16th-century depressed and moulded arch surround, and the other with a very large wooden bressummer. Evidence of the former 'Wealden' hall house is present in the survival of dragon beams and an arched truss supporting the crown post. The roof has a crown post collar purlin design, with curved bracing and some wattle and daub infill inside the house. There is a 17th-century wooden staircase. The granary and roundels have been converted into a store for historic perambulators and baby carriages. The site is also moated.