Former Royal Philanthropic Society Office Former Royal Philanthropic Society Office, Royal Philanthropic Society School Royal Philanthropic Society School

Former Royal Philanthropic Society Office, Royal Philanthropic Society School

House, now unoccupied, dating from circa 1600 and substantially altered in the late 18th to early 19th century and again in the mid to late 19th century when it was considerably extended.

The original building is a timber-framed house of 2 storeys with loft, comprising 4 bays with a 2½ bay cross-wing at the west end. This cross-wing was later truncated by a new wing added across the south front, consisting of 2 storeys with attic and 4 bays. Later additions include brick, galleted rubblestone and tile-hung elements. The later 19th-century work is of red brick in Flemish bond with ashlar dressings. Plain tile roofs throughout.

South Elevation

The south elevation, dating from the later 19th century and serving as the main entrance elevation, shows an asymmetrical arrangement. The left bay is wider, slightly projecting and gabled. A cemented plinth runs beneath, with ashlar quoins to the angles and window surrounds. Windows are mullioned and transomed with casements throughout. The doorway, positioned to the right of bay 2, contains a 6-panel door in a chamfered surround and is sheltered by a gabled timber porch with cusped spandrels, a braced king post to the gable, and scalloped, chamfered bargeboards decorated with cusped tracery and pendant finials. A 2-light window sits to the left of the porch, with a canted bay window featuring a hipped roof to the right. Above are three 2-light windows and three 2-light gabled attic dormers, the latter styled similarly to the porch but more simply finished. The gabled left bay contains a 4-light window with small-pane glazing to the ground floor and a 3-light window to the first floor, with further fenestration to the attic. Moulded ashlar kneelers and coping cap the reused verges of the gables. A lateral stack to the rear of the left bay has two diagonally-set flues.

Rear Elevation

The original house has a cross-wing projecting on the right side. The ground floor is largely masked by added outshuts of brick and, at the right end, of galleted rubblestone. The left-hand outshut features a boarded door with two small glazed panels at the top, positioned to the right of a 3-light diamond-paned window. Where exposed at first-floor level, the original timber frame is visible, showing posts, studs, and tension braces to the main range, with one arched brace to the left side of the cross-wing. The cross-wing gable displays a tie-beam supporting three main posts with a collar, followed by two posts with a shorter collar and a single post rising to the apex. Various 19th and 20th-century windows punctuate this elevation. A cross-ridge stack stands to the right side of bay 2, with its lower part dating from the 18th century and the upper section from the later 19th century; another stack appears in the front roof pitch of bay 1 with a further example behind it. The left gable features a raised verge with kneeler and coping to the front.

Right Return

The gabled ends of both ranges are executed in later 19th-century brickwork matching the front elevation, with the left bay taller and slightly projecting. An outshut gable on the right is brick on a galleted rubblestone base, topped with a decorative tile-hung gable.

Left Return

A gabled addition stands on the left with an added lean-to against the ground floor of the cross-wing. The gabled addition has a galleted rubblestone ground floor and decorative tile-hung gable. The lean-to is of brick with boarded-up pointed-arched windows from the later 19th century. The first floor of the wing features decorative tile-hanging.

Interior

The Victorian south range contains an open-well stair with open string, turned balusters, tapering square-section newels and acorn finials and pendants. A modillion cornice runs to the hall and stair landing, which is distinguished by a triple-arched arcade with keyed archivolts. Panels styled in the manner of circa 1600 are found in various rooms in both the 19th-century and original ranges.

The original northern range retains visible timber-framed structural elements, including chamfered spine and cross beams with lamb's tongue stops. A back stair and attic stair, both in late 18th to early 19th-century style, feature closed strings, square-section balusters and gun-barrel type newels. The back stair is dog-legged with a 2-panel door to a cupboard beneath it.

The roof of the original range is of fine quality, constructed with queen-post trusses, clasped through purlins jointed at the trusses, coupled rafters (numbered), and arched wind braces. The brick stack to bay 2 rises in the position of an earlier stack, with the three pairs of rafters at this point being replacements. The loft floor comprises wide tongued-and-grooved boards, now disintegrated.