Shaw House

Shaw House is a large house, dating from 1711, with additions made around 1840. Originally built for Thomas Smith, it is now used as a care home. The front of the house is faced with ashlar, while the side wings and rear are constructed of rubble stone, all covered with stone slate or Welsh slate roofs and featuring ashlar stacks. The design is Classical in style, with two storeys and an attic. The main facade has a 2:3:2 window arrangement, with the central section projecting forward. The central door is six-panelled, featuring a moulded architrave and a segmental pediment. Twelve-pane sash windows are set within moulded architraves. A string course runs above the first floor, surmounted by a modillioned cornice and a central pediment containing an oval wreathed oculus. A parapet with balustrade tops the front. Two dormers are visible in the roof. A two-story, four-windowed wing, constructed around 1840, is set to the left. This wing has sash windows with architraves, and a door to the right replicates the design of the front door, with a broken pediment. Another door of a similar style is located on the rear. A string course and cornice are present. The ashlar gable end has a French window and a Dutch gable with an oculus and urn finials to the parapet. Decorative lead rainwater heads are a notable feature. The garden front, at the rear of the main block, presents a seven-window flat facade with a central door and pediment. A wing to the right of the front facade is possibly a late 17th century house remodelled in the 18th century, featuring five windows with two-light beaded mullions on the first floor. Below are three doors and cross windows, representing what were originally separate service quarters. A string course is present, and the steeply pitched roof has coped verges and saddlestones. The rear of this wing is characterized by beaded two-light mullions and one two-light ovolo mullioned window. A 20th century extension to the rear of the service wing is not included as part of the listed building. Inside, the entrance hall has a bolection moulded fireplace and fielded panelling. The open tread staircase features barley-sugar turned balusters. The library retains fielded panelling. A drawing room from the 1840s has a moulded plaster cornice, rosette panels, and wall panels. The house was used as a school in the early 19th century. It is situated on a prominent position at the end of a straight, tree-lined avenue.