Norman House

House. Built in the early 18th century and heightened by one storey in 1885, when it was refenestrated and some internal alterations were made. The house is constructed of red brick in Flemish bond, with some grey headers, and has a tiled roof with brick chimneystacks. It is three storeys high, with a seven-window front. Cement bands separate the floors. The windows have cambered head linings and 19th-century sash windows with vertical glazing bars only. A sun fireplaque is above the central first-floor window. A late 19th-century wood and glazed porch has two round-headed arches concealing an early 18th-century door surround, which features an elaborate flat hood on carved brackets with a tulip design, panelled reveals, and three stone steps. The oak doorcase has fielded panels, with the upper four cut away and glazed. At the rear is a central 19th-century two-storey extension, stuccoed with incised lines to imitate masonry, with vernaculated keystones and one mask keystone. The interior includes dado panelling and a moulded plaster ceiling in the hall. The lounge retains 18th-century butterfly and H-hinges on the window shutters, and the dining room has some original sash frames that were altered to accommodate later 19th-century sashes. The first floor retains early 18th-century staircase balustrading (the lower part of the staircase is 19th-century), four early 18th-century two-panelled doors, and a wooden fire surround with corner urns and a central patera with swags. A date of 1639 is visible behind the doorcase, but the building appears to date to the early 18th century. It was formerly the dower house to Oldfield Lawn and the alterations were carried out for Major General Oldfield, who had 22 children.