Cote House And Attached Forecourt Walls, Gatepiers And Gates

Cote House is a manor house, now a house, with origins in the late 16th century and substantial development in the early 17th century for Sir Thomas Horde, with later alterations in the late 17th century for Thomas Horde. Constructed of coursed limestone rubble, partly rendered, with moulded string courses, ashlar quoins and dressings, it has a gabled stone slate roof with finials. Numerous stacks, including a very large lateral stack to the rear of the hall, feature diagonally-set ashlar flues with moulded capping. The house is arranged in a U-plan, with parlour and service wings flanking the main hall.

The cross-gabled hall, of two storeys and an attic, has a two-window front. A hood mould is above a blocked door with a late 17th-century lunette to the left, and a central late 17th-century inserted doorway with a pulvinated frieze. Early 17th-century four-light ovolo-moulded stone-mullioned and transomed windows are present, along with similar mullioned attic windows. The two-storey wing to the right has similar mullioned and transomed windows to the gable ends and the side walls, in a two-window range. The wing to the left, also of two storeys and an attic, showcases late 16th-century hollow-chamfered stone-mullioned windows in the gable end, a four-light ovolo-moulded stone-mullioned window to the attic, and windows in a two-window side wall range. A two-storey range to the rear left incorporates similar mullioned windows and a reset head of a mid-13th-century plate-tracery window. An early 17th-century stair-turret is located on the right side wall, and a large stair-turret with one-light windows and a pyramidal roof rises from the rear of the hall range. Ovolo-moulded stone-mullioned windows are also found at the rear of the building.

Inside, the hall features an early 17th-century ovolo-moulded open fireplace, a studded door set in an arched ovolo-moulded surround to the right, and two similar doorways to the service wing on the left; a studded door leads to the stair turret. The attic contains an early 17th-century moulded stone fireplace. The service range contains chamfered beams and 17th-century panelling. The parlour range includes ovolo-moulded fireplaces in the front and rear rooms, an early 17th-century open-well staircase with turned balusters, a moulded handrail, and turned penditives and finials. A rear room has late 17th-century bolection-moulded panelling. The stonework throughout is carved with mason’s marks.

The late 17th-century limestone rubble walls enclose a forecourt approximately 95 metres by 30 metres. Blocked stone piers with a moulded plinth and cornice flank the front gateways, and similar piers with ball finials are present near the house, flanking scrolled wrought-iron gates dated 1704 in the right side wall. Late 17th-century cobbled paths intersect the forecourt, connecting the gateways. The property was purchased by the Horde family in 1553.