Little Broad Oak Including Railings And Gate To Garden To The West And Brick Walls To Garden To The East

Little Broad Oak

A house of probably late 18th-century origin, with alterations made around 1900 when an adjoining stable block was absorbed into the main building. The house is constructed in English bond brick, while the former stable block uses Flemish bond; both sections have hipped slate roofs and brick stacks.

The house faces west onto Windmill Hill and follows a double-depth plan, three rooms wide. Access is via a left-of-centre entrance leading into a wide cross passage containing the main stair and a service stair descending to the basement, which originally housed the kitchen and service rooms. The left-hand front room, probably originally a dining room, is heated by an axial stack on the rear wall. To the right of the entrance is a lobby with a small service room behind, likely a secondary arrangement. The right-end room, originally divided into two, now extends the full depth of the house and is heated by a right-end stack. The former stable block, positioned adjoining and set back at the left (north) end, now contains the kitchen with additional accommodation on the first floor. A short rear left wing at right angles to the main block dates from the 20th century but is designed in a style sympathetic to the original.

The exterior presents two storeys with an asymmetrical facade: six windows serve the former stable block and four windows the house proper. Both sections feature hipped slate roofs with deep eaves carried on shaped brackets arranged in threes. The house front is asymmetrical with regular bays. Five stone steps lead up to the large porch, positioned left of centre, which has Doric columns and a moulded cornice to the entablature. A 18th or early 19th-century six-panel front door is flanked by three-pane glazed panels and framed by reeded pilasters. Above is a segmental-headed fanlight with delicate spiders' web glazing bars set beneath a rubbed brick segmental arch. Round-headed recesses frame the ground floor windows and descend to frame the basement windows, with the recesses linked by a brick platband. Early 19th-century twelve-pane sashes light the ground floor, while basement windows are three-over three-pane sashes. Four first-floor windows are three-over six-pane sashes, all featuring rubbed brick voussoirs. The left return has one bay of matching windows. The right return contains two end stacks, two first-floor three-over nine-pane sashes, and two ground-floor 20th-century six-pane single-light casements. The rear elevation features a 19th-century back door to the entrance passage with a moulded doorcase and a flat porch hood with a modillion frieze on moulded brackets. Three first-floor three-over six-pane sashes are present, and to the left of centre is a French window flanked by sixteen-pane sashes, one of late 20th-century date. The rear wing has a hipped roof. The converted stable block and coach house to the left (north) displays a six-window front and retains what is probably an early 19th-century stable door, approximately at centre, positioned beneath a segmental arch with original ventilation louvres. A blocked doorway to the right has been converted to a window; a 20th-century stable door stands to the left of centre. The four left-hand first-floor windows are two-light casements with square leaded panes and arched heads. Other windows are two-, three-, four- and six-light casements, all 20th-century with square leaded panes.

The interior preserves late 18th and early 19th-century joinery, including panelled doors with reeded doorcases, panelled shutters and deep skirting boards. A particularly fine late 18th or early 19th-century stair features alternating turned and stick balusters, an open string and a ramped, wreathed mahogany handrail. Nineteenth-century cornices survive in most of the principal rooms.

The garden boundaries are included in the listing. The garden to the west of the house is bounded by 19th-century iron railings with brick piers topped by ball finials, flanking an iron gate with arrowhead finials above the dog rail and a wrought iron head. The rear (east) garden is enclosed by circa late 18th or early 19th-century brick walls; the north wall has a brick plinth and brick coping and probably pre-dates the east wall.