White Hart Lodge and West House

White Hart Lodge and West House

White Hart Lodge is a house of probable 15th-century origin, with multiple subsequent phases including 19th-century and circa 1900 additions. West House originally formed part of White Hart Lodge and comprises the larger part of the circa 1900 addition.

The early phases of the house have a timber-framed core, while the later phases are masonry at ground floor with timber framing above. Both White Hart Lodge and West House are faced in white-painted roughcast and hung tiles, with the circa 1900 work having red brick dressings around window and door openings. The roofs are covered with clay tiles and the windows are timber casements and sliding sashes.

The building is two storeys high, with the circa 1900 phase also having an attic and basement level. The early phases comprise a 15th-century hall range and a later 16th-century cross wing, forming an L-shaped plan. The hall range runs north-south, parallel to Limpsfield High Street, with the cross wing adjoining the south end of the hall range and running east-west away from the road. A large stack is inserted at the junction between the two ranges, with a smaller stack at each of the opposing ends.

The later building phases comprise an infill within the right-angle of the L, of probable 19th-century date, and further to the west a large extension of circa 1900. Internally the infill phase forms (probably as a result of later remodelling) a large double-height pseudo-medieval great hall with a galleried landing above and a large open-well stair. To the west of this is the circa 1900 addition, now forming part of White Hart Lodge, and all of West House. The division between White Hart Lodge and West House is not identifiable in the complex roofscape of the additions.

Both houses are entered from the east: White Hart Lodge through the left bay of the hall range, and West House into the circa 1900 extension, set further back into the site.

The principal elevation of White Hart Lodge faces east onto the High Street. The hall range is roughcast over a rendered plinth and presents externally as having two bays: the front door to the left and a canted bay to the right at ground floor, both with first-floor sash windows and roof dormers above. The six-panel front door with side lights and a deep semi-circular half-dome hood on moulded brackets is an early 20th-century arrangement. To the left of the hall range is the gable end of the cross wing, with another canted bay at ground floor and a casement above set within the tile-hung first floor.

The north, south and west elevations, variously shared between White Hart Lodge and West House, each form an irregular arrangement, unified by a shared palette of roughcast and first-floor hung tiles, multi-pane casement and sash windows, and red brick chimneys with moulded stepped heads. The circa 1900 extension includes a moulded brick band beneath the tile hanging and finely pointed rubbed brick arches over the window heads. A distinguishing feature of the north elevation is the tall leaded four-light mullion and transom hall window which lights the open hall and stair of White Hart Lodge. On the west elevation at the rear of West House is a late 20th-century timber conservatory which is excluded from the listing, and a single-storey extension which matches the detail of the rest of the house.

The interior of the early phases of White Hart Lodge has been largely modernised, and there are few pre-20th-century features exposed. The main exception is the first-floor room to the east of the cross wing. This room is open to the rafter collars, with the wall and roof structure partially exposed. The room is spanned by a substantial cambered tie beam supporting a crown post cruciform in section with four curved up-braces. The end wall to the east and the dividing wall between the east and west rooms both have crown posts with curved up-braces supporting the collar purlin, large curved down-braces, and plastered infill panels. On the north wall, where the wing adjoins the hall range, is a fireplace with a stone surround with a four-centred arch opening. A door to the right of the fireplace leads into the hall range, and there is evidence in the wall framing of a now-blocked second door to the left of the fireplace. The west room of the cross-wing is ceiled over, and within the loft space above is another crown post square in section with two curved up-braces supporting the collar purlin.

In the attic space above the first-floor rooms of the hall range, the upper part of another crown post is visible a short distance to the north of the inserted stack. This post is octagonal in section with a moulded capital, and the up-braces are straight and steeply raked. There were originally four braces, but one is now missing. The roof structure has undergone alteration, but many heavily smoke-blackened timbers are visible.

Now interconnecting through large openings in the back wall of the hall range is the double-height great hall and stair in the later infill. This hall is overlooked by a three-sided galleried landing with heavily moulded balustrade, reached by the wide dog-leg stair lined with fielded panelling. The hall ceiling imitates a crown post roof structure, open to the underside of the collars; it is unclear how much of the exposed timber is genuinely structural. The interior of West House is not of special interest and is excluded from the listing.