Bratton House

Bratton House is a detached house, dating from 1715, with later additions and alterations in the 19th and 20th centuries. It was originally built for Philip Ballard and subsequently enlarged in 1826 for the Seagram family, with further changes made in the 1915 and 1930s. The house is constructed of rendered brick with stone quoins, the original 18th-century range having a lead roof, while the 19th-century addition has a Welsh slate roof. Rendered stacks rise from the roof. The building has a rectangular plan with two rear wings.

The main front is three storeys high with a seven-window facade, the central three bays projecting forward. A central half-glazed door, approached by semi-circular stone steps and sheltered by a moulded architrave with a broken pediment displaying the Ballard crest, is flanked by narrow sash windows. The ground floor windows are 18-pane sashes in moulded architraves with dripstones. The first floor has a mix of 18-pane and narrower 12-pane sashes; the second floor features 12-pane and narrow 8-pane to the centre, with 12-pane sashes to the sides. A moulded eaves cornice sits above a balustraded parapet, and lead rainwater goods, including heads dated 1715 with the initials PBS and IBA, are present.

The right return elevation features a half-glazed central door leading to a set of semi-circular steps, with a large segmental hood on brackets above. Flanking this door are two 18-pane sashes. The upper floors display five 12-pane sashes each. To the right is a library added in 1826, with 12-pane sashes to the lower ground floor, large 12-pane and tripartite sashes to the upper ground floor, and three sashes to the early 20th-century second floor. A balustraded parapet matches that of the front facade. The left return has a half-glazed door set within a bolection-moulded surround topped with a shell hood, with two sashes to either side. The first floor has five 18-pane sashes, while the second floor has 12-pane sashes. A blocked bolection-moulded doorway and mullioned casements are visible in the basement.

The rear ranges incorporate small sashes to the lower ground and first floors, including a large tripartite 15-pane sash to the right and a 24-pane sash to the left of the library. A rainwater head marked BFS/1826 (Frowde Seagram) is also present. The right-hand range has deep eaves.

The interior is notable for a fine stair hall with fielded panelling, a bolection-moulded fireplace, and a wide elliptical arch. The staircase has three turned or twisted balusters to the open string treads, with carved ends and a wide swept handrail. A small sitting room to the right of the entrance has fielded panelling, moulded cornices, and a marble fireplace. The 1826 library features a modillioned cornice, a reset Italian fireplace with a classical scene on the frieze, and bookcases designed by Norman Evill around 1930. Doors are fitted with six fielded panels, and the back stairs have two turned balusters per tread. A bedroom in the Regency range has fittings dating to the 1930s, designed by Mrs. Bowes-Lyon.