Holywell House

Holywell House is a house dating from the mid-17th century, situated on Fernham Road in Shelvingford. It is constructed of uncoursed limestone rubble with some brick quoins, and has a stone slate roof. A brick ridge stack is present, along with a gable end stack to the right and a quadruple-flued ridge stack to the rear of the left cross wing. The house is arranged in an L-shape and has a 4-window front, with a further 2 storeys and an attic to the left cross wing. A C20 door and porch are situated at the junction of the main block and cross wing, edged by brick jambs and a timber lintel. The ground floor right has chamfered timber lintels over C20 two- and 3-light casements, and two blocked casements. The roof is gabled, with a cross gable to the left wing. To the rear of the left wing are label-moulds over stone mullioned casements to the first and second floors, and an early 19th-century sash window to the ground floor.

The interior features mid-19th century four and six-panelled doors, some 18th-century two-panelled and plank doors, and 17th-century ribbed doors. A chamfered and stopped beam is present, along with a blocked original fireplace to the right. Beams are also present to the left and centre of the house. A tenoned timber framed partition rises the full height of the house between the right wing and left cross wing. A late-20th-century staircase cuts through a beam in the centre of the building. The left-hand room has a 17th-century panelled dado and a chamfered bressumer above the fireplace. The rear left room has a moulded stone fireplace and a fine plaster ceiling decorated with a jewelled strapwork design, featuring doves holding olives in the corners alongside motifs such as limpets, roses and fleurs-de-lys. A rose-en-soleil is on the ceiling of the first-floor room to the front left, and a chamfered and stopped beam is also present. The attic of the left wing contains a Victorian grate within an early-18th-century bolection moulded fireplace, and a four-bay collar-truss roof with butt purlins.

Attached to the left gable is a late-18th-century brewhouse and dairy constructed of similar materials. It has a gabled roof and a brick ridge stack. The interior of the brewhouse and dairy features 18th-century plank doors, an open fireplace with a late-18th-century architrave, chamfered beams, and a straight-flight staircase. The plasterwork ceiling within the main house is similar to that at Orchard Cottage in Stanford-in-the-Vale, which is dated 1635, suggesting it was created by the same artisans.