Marwarden Court

Marwarden Court is a house dating to the late 16th and early 17th centuries, with alterations made around 1710 and in the 19th century. The east front is two storeys and an attic, constructed of dressed stone with an old tile roof. The design is U-shaped, featuring three-light stone mullioned attic windows, and six-light stone mullioned and transomed windows with 19th-century glass on the ground and first floors; all are set beneath dripmoulds. A central porch with rusticated jambs and a flat hood on brackets sits between the gabled wings, topped by a four-light stone mullioned and transomed window. A carved lintel above the porch reads "Parva sed apta domino l673." The west garden front, dating to circa 1710, is a symmetrical six-bay ashlar front with a steep hipped old tile roof. It has two gabled dormers with small casements, five deep-set sash windows with thick glazing bars, ashlar architraves and sills, and a door in the third bay from the south, set within an ashlar architrave surround, supported by acanthus console brackets and topped with a broken segmental pediment. The door has thick glazing bar sashes and two fielded panels.

Inside, the hall features a late 16th-century fireplace with a cambered stone head and jambs. The drawing room is panelled in an early 18th-century style, with bolection mouldings, a pulvinated frieze, and cornice. A red and grey marble bolection moulded mantlepiece contains a central wood panel flanked by pilasters. There is an early 18th-century staircase with an oak closed string and balusters, partially cased. The upper hall and one bedroom are also panelled in an early 18th-century style. In the attic, the south end exhibits exposed butt purlins, principal rafters, tenoned pegged collars, and wall posts.

The house was bought by Thomas Pitt in 1690, and the garden front is likely attributable to him. William Pitt the elder was born at Marwarden Court.

Marwarden Court, together with its former stables and forecourt wall and gate, forms a notable group.