Coxs Hall

This is a substantial house, dated 1739 on a rainwater head, built for John Cox, who held the office of High Sheriff of Berkshire. A wing was added to the rear right side in the mid-19th century. The front elevation is rendered over coursed limestone rubble, with exposed rubble at the sides and rear, and brick dressings. The roof is of stone slate, with stone stacks incorporating brick detailing.

The building was originally constructed as a double-depth, L-shaped plan. The main facade has two storeys and five bays, with a prominent, pedimented central bay. The central bay features a semi-circular arched doorway with a keystone and impost blocks, leading to a six-panelled door with an overlight. Segmental brick arches with keystones and brick surrounds frame the four-pane sash windows, retaining original glazing bars. The first-floor window keys touch a string course beneath the ramped parapet, which culminates in a central pediment featuring a keyed oculus. Brick corner pilasters are adorned with a stone astragal and entablature. A contemporary rendered single-storey block sits to the right of the front facade, featuring a single sash window similarly styled. The gabled roof has a ridge stack with matching stone detailing. The left side wall presents a two-window range with similar details around the door and sashes, including a lateral stack. A two-storey canted bay window projects from the rear of this wing. A late 19th-century three-light stone mullioned and transomed stair-light, with ovolo-moulded detailing, is located at the rear. The gabled wing to the rear right, constructed in similar style and materials, likely dates to the mid-19th century. A late 19th-century flat-roofed extension is attached to the right side wall, with a gabled single-storey extension extending to the rear. Original shutters and six-panelled doors within moulded architraves remain.

Internal features include a mid-18th-century fireplace in the room to the right. Elsewhere, there is molded dado and skirting, along with Doric pilasters with guttae flanking a blocked doorway; a reeded architrave marks a blocked window opening. A room to the left displays keyed semi-circular arches with fluted pilasters and moulded imposts framing niches in the rear wall. A passage connects these rooms from the front door to the rear hall, which incorporates a dog-leg staircase with a fluted newel and balustrade alternating between fluted and barley-sugar designs, as well as a panelled dado. A fine six-panelled door, with an eared and keyed semi-circular arch and dentilled entablature, is positioned to the right of the hall. The first floor retains two-panelled doors in moulded architraves. A panelled room to the right includes a fireplace with a fluted key and two blocked windows to the rear. A panelled room to the front and right of the building is complemented by two panelled rooms to the rear on the left, featuring a mid-18th-century fireplace. An early 18th-century reset bolection-moulded fireplace is found in a mid-19th-century room to the rear right.