38 The Close

38 The Close is a building dating from the 16th or 17th century that was refaced in the early 18th century. It has two storeys and an attic, constructed of painted brick on a projecting plinth. The building features a moulded and bracketed wooden eaves cornice and a hipped old tile roof. There are two dormers with moulded cornices and leaded casements. The first floor has three windows, which were originally four, but one above the door is now blocked. There is a central angular bay window with a plain frieze and a delicate dentilled cornice. The ground floor has four windows with moulded frames and panelled shutters, alongside a late 18th-century six-panel door located to the right of centre. This door has a good knocker and features guilloche ornament at the head of the frame, a stilted rectangular fanlight with a radiating curved and wreathed pattern, and a wooden doorcase supported by semi-engaged fluted Doric columns. The frieze displays a key pattern and cornet wreath ornament, with a moulded cornice that has leaf enrichment on the bed mould and cyma, and a panelled and enriched soffit to the entablature.

To the left of the main building is a two-storey stable block that has a moulded and coved cornice, with irregular windows and doors, and a blocked segmental arched carriageway.

Inside, the ground floor room on the left has good 18th-century fielded panelling and a door frame with pilasters and a bolection cornice above. There is a corner fireplace with a marble surround. On the first floor landing, there is a large mid-17th-century wall painting depicting a hunting scene, attributed to Edward Pierce. Some earlier roof structure is visible in the attics, including a truss with a collar and part of the principal, along with remains of trusses and tie beams, mostly concealed. The rear garden elevation shows an earlier part of the building with two gables and a narrow projecting gabled bay, featuring 19th-century fenestration but retaining one leaded casement.

All the listed buildings in The Close form an outstanding group.