Dryden House Kennet House

Dryden House and Kennet House are a pair of residences, originally built in 1638 as a vicarage for Reverend John Stubbings. The building was altered in the late 17th century and enlarged in the 1830s for Reverend L. Dryden. The construction utilizes random and coursed squared limestone rubble with ashlar dressings, and has old plain-tile roofs with brick stacks.

The building has a complex plan and comprises one and two storeys plus attics, with a four-window front. A projecting range sits to the right, with a smaller gabled two-story bay in the angle between the ranges. Casements are set within moulded stone surrounds with labels. The lower two-window range was remodelled, likely in 1838, featuring stone-mullioned and transomed windows with labels and large stone-gabled dormers. A 19th-century stone porch provides access via a four-centre arched entrance. A double stack rising at the junction of the ranges incorporates diagonal shafts.

The right side of the cross wing exhibits original ovolo-moulded stone-mullioned windows on every floor, including a three-light transomed stair window, all with labels and leaded glazing. Additionally, it features a canted chimney projection and a gable datestone inscribed "ISD/1638." A 19th-century rear range, parallel to the main building, has matching mullioned windows and gables, flush with the rear projection of the crosswing. This range obscures the original entrance front, which originally presented two gables facing a central valley.

The cross wing contains a dogleg staircase with moulded handrails, heavy turned column balusters, panelled newels with lantern finials, early 18th-century fielded panelling in the drawing room, a large moulded Tudor-arched stone fireplace with a moulded-brick reredos, and a shell alcove. The lower range contains a plainer Tudor-arched fireplace and re-used mid-17th century oak panelling. Dryden House has an early 18th-century coffered ceiling and an original four-centred arched stone entrance with a moulded surround, label, and shields in the spandrels. The 19th-century range in Dryden House features a room with fine late 17th-century oak panelling from Merton Manorhouse, complete with elaborate mouldings and fluted Corinthian pilasters supporting carved consoles. An ancient plank doorway is also incorporated, its four-centred stone surround potentially being a reused element. Reverend White Kennett, a vicar (1685-1701) and antiquary, later became Bishop of Peterborough.