Somerden

TQ 53 37 SPELDHURST GROOMBRIDGE HILL (east side), OLD GROOMBRIDGE 16/513 Somerden 20.10.54 GV II*

House. Late C18/early C19 (possibly earlier origins). Ground floor level is Flemish bond red brick on a brick plinth of English bond including bands of burnt headers. First floor level is timber-framed and hung with peg-tile. brick stacks and chimneyshafts. Peg-tile roof.

Plan: House faces south. It has a double depth plan with front and back room either side of the central entrance hall and main staircase. Front rooms have gable-end stacks, the left (west) end stack. Rear has 2 projecting rear stacks. Late C19 shop added as a lean-to on the left (west) end.

2 storeys with attics in the roofspace and cellars.

Exterior: Main house has asymmetrical late C18/early C19 3-window front. Outer bays have 16-pane sashes and central first floor 12-pane sash above central doorway which contains a 6-panel door and an overlight with glazing bars under a flat hood on shaped brackets. Doorway is up a flight of 6 stone steps fenced iron railings which scroll round over the bottom curtail step. Moulded timber eaves cornice. Roof is gable-ended and includes 2 flat-roofed dormers. At left end of front late C19 4-panel door into the late C19 shop that end under a leant-to roof. The end wall includes a wide 2-bay shop window, fixed pane with glazing bars. Behind the shop the end of the house includes a horned 6-pane sash. Rear includes a couple of old (maybe C18) timber 2-light casement windows containing rectangular panes of leaded glass. Central rear doorway contains a plain plank door

Interior: Was not available for inspection at the time of this survey but, if the outside is anything to go by, it should contain a great deal of early joinery and other detail.

Somerden, an attractive house in its own right, forms part of what must be one of the best groups of listed buildings in Kent in Old Groombridge, all of them associated with nearby Groombridge Place (q.v.).

Listing NGR: TQ5308437739