Rockbeare Court

Rockbeare Court is a small mansion with parts dating from the late 17th century, though the building was substantially rebuilt, reorganised and enlarged around 1790. It is constructed of brick with stucco render, brick chimney stacks with plastered shafts (some fitted with various 19th-century chimney pots), and a slate roof.

The building has a U-shaped plan. The main front faces south to south-west and contains two large principal rooms separated by an entrance lobby. The western room has a projecting end stack, while the eastern room features a rear lateral stack with a large curving full-height bay projecting from its eastern end. Behind the entrance hall, a stair block is flanked by rear blocks projecting at right angles on either side. The main roof pitch is carried down over the stair block. Both rear blocks contain two rooms: the eastern block has an axial stack and an end stack, while the western block contains the original kitchen with an outer lateral stack and the former site of the service stair (now removed). The main block and eastern rear block are two storeys with attics, while the western rear block is two storeys only.

The south-facing main front is nearly symmetrical with a seven-window frontage. It comprises mainly 12-pane sashes, though the three ground-floor left windows are 8-pane sashes. At the base runs a moulded stucco plinth with channelled rustication, and at the top is a parapet featuring a sunken rectangular panel above each window with a moulded timber cornice above. The central doorway now contains late 19th-century part-glazed double doors, but the original features—panelled reveals and a broad flat-roofed porch with Tuscan columns and moulded entablature—are retained. The roof is gable-ended to the left and hipped to the right.

The west-facing side carries the same plinth and parapet around. The curving bay contains a tripartite sash on each floor, with a central 12-pane sash flanked by 8-pane sashes. To its right is an uneven three-window front of 12-pane sashes; the roof is hipped at each end and contains a dormer. To the rear, the stair block features a large round-headed sash with glazing bars.

The interior retains most of its Georgian detail. From the entrance hall, a large round-headed arch opens into the stair block, which contains an open well stair with open string, stick balusters, mahogany handrail, scrolled wreath, and curtail steps. The right front room has a high ceiling with a fine moulded plaster cornice and a marble chimneypiece featuring a panel carved as a vase of flowers. The front left room is lined with late 17th-century bolection panelling in two heights, which appears to be in situ, though the chimneypiece has been replaced with a marble Georgian example. The kitchen fireplace includes a cast iron Victorian range. On the first floor, a cupola sits over the former site of the service stair.

In the roof space, the top of the rear wall of the front block over the left room is exposed, revealing late 17th-century brickwork with a blocked 17th-century oak four-light window frame featuring ovolo-moulded mullions and a soffit-moulded lintel, apparently in situ. The roof over the main block also appears to date from the late 17th century, comprising a series of plain A-frame trusses with pegged and nailed lap-jointed collars.