Portugal House

This is a house, likely dating from the middle of the 18th century, which was remodelled in the early 19th century and subsequently altered. The exterior is rubble, rendered and painted, with limestone dressings. The roof is double Roman tiled, with raised coped verges and gable stacks, and a pantiled roof to a wing. The main facade has two storeys and three windows, with 16-pane sashes on the first floor and two 19th-century French windows on the ground floor. A central door has six fielded panels, a plain fanlight, and an open pediment supported by consoles. A glazed canopy, supported by slender cast iron piers, runs along the ground floor, and trellis work is attached to the wall at first floor, framing the windows. A parapet and coping slope down on each side over a single-storey wing to the right, with a matching French window, and to the left, a small bay with a three-light window of six panes each, with two-light overlights on each side, and a dentil cornice. The right return has a single-storey pantiled wing with four two-light casements. The left return has three gable ends, one stepped and ramped, with 16-pane sashes at ground and first floor, segmental brick heads, a 20th-century door and conservatory to the left, and a nine-pane sash at ground floor to the right. A gable to the right has two two-light attic casements. The rear of the building includes two 19th-century additions of two storeys and single-storey rear wing. The rear features varied windows, including in the central block two lights of varied sizes and a door with overlight, with segmental heads, alongside a 16-pane sash and a small eight-pane sash at first floor. The house was originally named after Portugal Laurels, in line with the local custom of naming houses after trees. The original layout consisted of a central block flanked by two wings, similar in design to The Beeches.