1 and 2, Sessions House

Sessions House comprises two dwellings formed from a single building. It is a former farmhouse, probably dating from the late 17th or early 18th century, which was extended and refurbished after 1908. During the 1930s it served as a local Magistrates Court, a use that gave the house its name. The building was seriously damaged by fire in August 2006 and was subsequently subdivided into two separate dwellings.

The house is constructed of coursed stone rubble with red and burnt brick dressings and red brick stacks. The rear wall is painted. It was originally roofed in long straw thatch. The alterations and extensions of around 1908 are rendered on the ground floor with projecting upper floor bays clad in rough-cut weather-boarding.

The building follows a three-bay, two-storey lobby entry plan, with a stair positioned behind the stack and a small closet over the entrance. Around 1908, the original northern bay was redesigned as an entrance hall with a new stair when an additional northernmost bay was added. The main stack originally had a T-shaped plan but was removed above the ridge following the 2006 fire.

On the roadside elevation, the stone fabric is enhanced by brick plinths, flush storey bands and cill bands. A replaced raised and fielded panel door sits beneath the stack, flanked on the ground floor by small-paned sashes of 19th and early 20th century date set in flush, exposed, moulded timber frames. The ground floor right-hand frame may date to the late 18th century. All windows are set in brick reveals with red brick quoins and integral cambered soldier arches in slightly burnt brick. Above the entrance is a small two-light timber casement with chamfered reveals and diamond leaded lights. The first floor originally had five-by-three pane sashes cutting through the cill band, but these were removed after the fire.

The northern bay, added after 1908, contains an early 20th century inserted doorway with chamfered brick reveals and a keystone inscribed OFH. Above is a small brick tablet inscribed R(?)H 1728. A robust oak door with applied mouldings on its outer face stands here; its inner face is heavily studded with a circular revolving viewing panel. This is believed to be a former lock-up or cell door, rumoured to have come from Newgate Prison following its demolition around 1912. Above this door was a two-light casement, now removed. The northern bay's ground floor is rendered with a projecting rough-cut weather-boarded upper floor clad in timber casements with diamond leaded lights. The rebuilt former gable end-stack and early 20th century gable stack both had moulded collars and caps, subsequently removed to ridge level after the 2006 fire.

On the west garden elevation, the stonework is painted. The c.1908 northern extension is rendered at ground floor with a projecting rough-cut weather-boarded upper floor. The former central bay was similarly altered at this time. Diamond leaded casements are early 20th century except for an eyebrow dormer added in the 1970s, when the southernmost bay was also refurbished. A late 20th century door is present. The southern elevation comprises coursed stone rubble with a 20th century inserted doorway.

The interior lobby entry gives onto a large brick stack, now exposed and restored on its northern face, with an oven on the west flank. To the rear, formerly enclosed behind an early 20th century panelled alcove, is the base of a vertically-boarded, curved timber stair frame. The principal ground floor rooms and hall were lined throughout in full-height, small-framed, moulded oak panelling when the house was extended after 1908. The spine beams are encased. Door cases feature moulded architraves with tall chamfered bases, and the doors are small-panelled to match the walls. The open-well closed-string oak stair has square newels with ball finials, alternate twisted and moulded balusters, and a moulded rail. The drawing room contains a large four-centre arched, moulded stone chimneypiece, possibly introduced from elsewhere. A similar but smaller chimneypiece is inserted in the hall and incorporates a small inserted carved fireback.

The southern bay was refurbished during the 1970s, when joinery on both floors was replaced. On the first floor, the front wall and most of the wall plate survive. Fragments of charred uprights from timber partitions framing the original stair remain, and much of the partition between the second and third bays survives, with some reused chamfered timber intact. The brick stacks remain but are damaged. Fittings were formerly late 20th century stripped pine, destroyed in the 2006 fire. The roof, described as largely 20th century and certainly altered on the west front, was also destroyed.

A boundary wall of stone and brick stands roadside, incorporating a former pump stand fed by the adjacent well. An attached barn is separately listed. To the rear are attached outbuildings, and former stables and granary, also listed, survive to the north, now converted to residential use and in separate ownership.

The house was formerly known as the Old Farmhouse. The house, attached barn and some land were sold around 1908, when the building was extended and remodelled in an Arts and Crafts manner, which itself is of interest as an example of historical interpretation of the period. The house forms a strong group with similar-scale thatched cottages and outbuildings along the High Street in a linear development that forms the core of historic Selsey.