Hardwick House

Hardwick House is a country house that likely dates back to the early 16th century, with a wing added in the mid 17th century and further alterations made in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. The building features a flint base, red brick construction, and a plain tile roof with brick stacks. It has a complex plan and is designed in the Tudor style, standing two storeys high with an attic and an eight-window range.

The central entrance has a part-glazed studded 19th-century door framed by a stone surround with a four-centred arch, trefoil carvings in the spandrels, and a hood mould. The windows are irregularly arranged, primarily featuring stone mullions, with stone cross-windows located in the mid 17th-century cross-wing to the left and a 19th-century angled two-storey bay window to the right. The attic has cross-gables with mullioned windows, and the roof is complex in design, featuring diagonally set stacks in the centre and right, along with rectangular stacks with panelled sides on the left.

On the left-hand return, the house has two storeys and an attic with a four-window range. All openings have stone cross windows with hood moulds, and there are flat brick bands between the ground and first floors, as well as between the first floor and attic. The attic features three cross-gables, each with a two-light stone mullion window and a blind round panel above. A late 18th-century tower at the rear has oval windows and an ogee lead dome.

Inside, the dining room on the ground floor to the left showcases rococo plasterwork from around 1750, and there is a 19th-century open well staircase in the Tudor style. The room on the first floor to the right dates to the late 16th century and features a plaster ceiling with pendant bosses and portrait heads in medallions, possibly depicting Joshua, Julius Caesar, Fame, and Elizabeth I. The frieze includes strapwork decoration, and the panelled walls are adorned with blind arcading and pilasters. The fireplace is made of chalk, and the overmantel panel illustrates the sacrifice of Isaac.

Historically, the house was likely built by Richard Lybbe, who acquired the Manor from the Hardwick family in 1526. The south wing was rebuilt around 1660 to replace part of the house that was damaged during the Civil War by bombardment from Cromwell's troops. There were significant late 19th-century additions that have since been demolished.