Dorset House

Dorset House is a building that began as a house, later used as offices. It dates to 1705, though it incorporates fabric of an earlier timber-framed building, likely from the late 16th century, with owners traceable back to 1564. The house was refurbished and extended in the late 20th century. The front is of red brick with a tiled roof, half-hipped on the right, and a brick chimneystack on the left. The rear elevation is primarily tile-hung.

The front is two storeys with a basement and attics, featuring five windows. It has three 19th-century gabled dormers with vertical glazing bars. The windows are twelve-pane sashes in moulded reveals, the ground floor ones being taller and with rubbed brick voussoirs. A central doorcase has a wooden pediment on brackets, a rectangular fanlight, a 19th-century plank door, and steps with cast iron railings. A deep wooden modillion eaves cornice and moulded brick band are also present. A rainwater head dated 1705 bears the initials K T J, for Thomas and Katherine James.

The rear elevation is higher due to a fall in ground level, extending to three storeys and attics, and is clad in 20th-century tile-hanging with renewed sashes.

The interior includes a hall with a deep moulded wooden cornice and panelling with a dado rail. A room on the left retains a brick fireplace with a fine late 16th-century carved oak bressumer featuring square strapwork motifs and lozenges; dado panelling may date to the 17th century. A room on the right has a boxed-in beam, a bolection-moulded fireplace, early 18th-century-style painted panelling with a dado rail, and old shutters to the windows. Another room on the right also has a bolection-moulded fireplace and panelling with a dado rail. A room on the rear left may have a boxed-in fireplace. A section of 16th-century close-studded wall frame is visible by the late 20th-century staircase, and a 19th-century leaded light window features octagonal panes and heraldic glass. The roof structure includes purlins with a collar beam, likely dating to around 1705.

The house's history includes ownership by Andrew Cole in 1564 and Thomas Wright, a shoemaker, in 1588. Richard Cole was assessed for three hearths in the 1670s. Robert Mathew, also a shoemaker, lived there around 1683. By 1695, Thomas James, a gentleman, had acquired the property to build a town house alongside his country estate at Cowden. The Sackville family acquired the house in 1770, seeking to bolster their parliamentary vote. From 1790 to at least 1861, it was occupied by three successive attorneys. Between 1914 and 1923, it served as an annexe of the Dorset Arms, and a carved oak staircase was removed after 1939.