Betchworth House

Betchworth House is a country house dating to the late 17th century, with a cupola dated 1675. It was originally built by the Freeman family and was faced in brick during the 18th century, with extensions added to the rear in the early 19th century, likely by T. Grundy Snr. in 1808.

The front facade is red brick with stucco on the rear extensions, topped by a hipped plain tiled roof and slate roofs with deep eaves. A parapet obscures the double roofline. The house has square stacks to the left and right. The symmetrical front has five bays, featuring an offset plinth and rusticated quoins to the angle piers. Original 18th-century 12-pane sash windows are present, five on the first floor and four below, all with gauged brick heads. The central door surround is constructed of Mersham stone in a Gibbs-style, with a pulvinated frieze and rusticated, arched surround. The original door was of six fielded panels with a fanlight above, accessed by steps with an iron handrail and a cellar entrance between the flights, with twisted standards and spherical finials to the railings. Cellar windows are cambered-head casements. A central, octagonal cupola features a boarded plinth with a clock face on the entrance side, an open and arcaded upper section with Doric pilasters and keyed arches, a triglyph frieze above, and an ogee-domed lead roof with spherical weathervane finials.

The return front to the left has four windows, with two blocked; two square first-floor sashes and two late 18th-century round-headed sash windows below. A 19th-century range to the left incorporates eaves cornices. This range has three 12-pane sash windows on the first floor and ground floor, with a tripartite sash window on the first floor over two ground-floor 15-pane sash windows. Further 19th-century ranges project to the left, with most windows on the return wall blocked. The front has seven bays, the centre three slightly recessed. A plat band runs over the ground floor, with keyed heads to the ground floor sashes. The angles are quoined and rusticated. A flat-roofed, balustraded projection with diamond tracery and roundels is centered on the ground floor range. Four 15-pane sash windows sit under keystoned heads.

To the rear, a single-bay projection has a plinth and rusticated angles. A three-bay range has two blocked first-floor windows and a Doric portico across the ground floor, with two columns and pilaster responds. An arched opening to the left side of the porch is now blocked, with a six-panel door. A further range is set back to the left. The main entrance range to the west has a recessed portico and a six-panel door. Iron half-oval balconies are positioned above first-floor windows. Interior features include window shutters, dentilled cornices in some ground floor rooms, and marble columns in a rear room. The house was in a neglected condition at the time of resurvey.