Maynards

House, Gedges Hill, Brenchley

Maynards is a timber-framed house dating from circa mid-15th century in origin, with significant remodelling from circa early 17th century. The building was truncated at its north end at an unknown date, and this section was rebuilt in the 1930s when a rear wing was added and a comprehensive programme of general renovation undertaken. The framed construction has its ground floor underbuilt in brick and first floor tile-hung, with a peg-tile roof and brick stacks. The 1930s additions employ matching materials.

The house, which faces west, has its core as a circa mid-15th century open hall house comprising a 2-bay hall and a one-bay storeyed south end. The hall was truncated at the north end at an unknown date. A secondary crossframe at the north end of the early house suggests the putative cross passage and lower end may have been rebuilt in the 17th century. A hall stack and floor were probably inserted in the late 16th or early 17th century. A rear stair projection, likely dating from mid-17th century, is contemporary with the raising of the roof over the south end to provide better access to the attic. A 1920s photograph held by the owner documents the house before the 1930s alterations. These involved rebuilding the north end to provide a kitchen and adding a rear right wing at right angles adjoining the main block at the south east corner to provide an extra principal room. The house was refenestrated and bays added to the front elevation. A new entrance was created on the right (south) end of the main block, with a porch positioned in the angle between the main block and new rear wing.

The exterior presents 2 storeys and attic. The roof is gabled at the ends with an axial stack featuring a staggered triple shaft with a corbelled brick cornice. The asymmetrical 4-window front includes two 1930s 2-storey gabled bays, one to the right of centre and one to the far right. Windows comprise 1930s 2- and 3-light casements with diamond leaded panes, together with 3 gabled attic dormers. A French window sits to the left of the two gabled bays. A 1930s oak door is positioned on the right (south) return. The rear elevation features the stair projection with a gabled roof and an outshut alongside to the north with a catslide roof. The 1930s additions display Vernacular Revival styling: the right (south) return of the 1930s rear wing has a gabled bay with brick nogging laid in herringbone patterns, and a rear projection off the new north end of the house is jettied to the rear.

The interior is rich in 15th-century and circa late 16th- to early 17th-century carpentry. The central hall retains the moulded dais beam from the medieval phase. A late 16th- or early 17th-century step-stopped beam runs along the long axis with step-stopped joists. An open fireplace features chamfered brick jambs and a chamfered oak lintel. The right-hand (south) room contains a roughly-chamfered crossbeam; half the medieval joists, of massive scantling, survive intact. The chamber over the hall retains ceiling beams matching those of the hall below. The frame of the late 16th- or early 17th-century rear window of the chamber, now internal, survives in the axial first floor passage and retains sockets for diagonally-set mullions. Medieval wall-framing, visible on the first floor, displays wallposts with flared jowls and tension braces. Secondary, taller posts have been added to the frame of the southern end to raise the first floor ceiling and accommodate the upper flight of the stair in the projection, which comprises a straight flight from the ground floor and a winder to the attic rooms. The northern cross frame, positioned just north of the inserted stack, is separate from the medieval frame.

The medieval roof survives as far as the inserted hall stack and takes the form of a crown post arrangement. The hall crown post is octagonal with a moulded capital, chamfered base and 3-way up-bracing, one brace truncated by the stack. A plain post survives in the higher end partition. The timbers over the hall are heavily sooted.

Maynards is a late medieval house with well-preserved carpentry.