The Postern

The Postern is a large house dated 1757, with later 19th and 20th-century alterations. It is constructed of Flemish bond red brick on coursed sandstone ashlar footings, with brick stacks and chimneyshafts, and a peg-tile roof.

The house faces south onto the garden, its entrance front on the left (west) side. It is terraced into a hillside, with the ground floor level partially buried on the right. The house follows a double-depth plan, two rooms wide and two rooms deep. A central entrance hall allows access from the west side, with a staircase rising to the rear. Most rooms are heated by lateral stacks, although there is one axial stack. The principal rooms are on the south (garden) side, with service rooms behind. The house is three storeys high, with single-storey service blocks to the rear.

The principal front, facing the garden (south), has a symmetrical five-window facade. The ground and first floors feature 12-pane sashes, while the second floor has 9-pane sashes. A 20th-century part-glazed door is set within a contemporary Georgian-style doorcase with a segmental pediment. Flat brick bands run across the front at the first and second floor levels, complemented by a moulded brick eaves cornice and a plain parapet. The roof is hipped at both ends. Centrally, above the first-floor window, a brick is inscribed with the date 1757 and the initials J.E. The entrance front has a four-window facade; originally symmetrical with a fifth window to the right of centre. This section has similar windows but lacks the flat bands and eaves cornice. A wide central doorway incorporates an almost round-headed segmental arch containing a 6-panel door with sidelights (equipped with internal shutters for security) and a fanlight with an elegant pattern of glazing bars. On the east side, there are casement windows with glazing bars, each set within a low segmental brick arch. A door off the staircase half-landing contains a likely 20th-century part-glazed panelled door, with a stone panel above bearing Adams-style carved decoration.

The interior has been partly modernised in the 20th century, with some principal ground floor rooms now lined with imported fielded panelling in two heights, and the principal parlour containing a good, although introduced, timber chimneypiece. Original joinery remains. The roof was not inspected.