Heron Court Incuding Outbuildings Adjoining To West And Cob Garden Walls Adjoining To North

Heron Court is a house of considerable architectural interest, formerly serving as the rectory. Built initially in the mid 16th century, it was substantially rearranged and partly rebuilt in the early 18th century, then refurbished with service extensions around 1830 to 1840. The structure is rendered cob on rubble footings, with stone rubble chimneys topped with 20th-century brick, and slate roofs.

The building faces south and has developed an irregular, rambling plan over four centuries. The main block from the mid 16th century originally comprised two rooms separated by a through passage. The left (western) end room was built as a fine parlour but was later converted to a kitchen, with its original rear lateral fireplace replaced by a projecting end stack. The right unheated room was converted to a stair hall in the early 18th century. At that same period, a two-room crosswing was added to the right end, projecting both forward and rear, containing the principal rooms. The front room has an outer lateral stack and the rear room an end stack. Around 1830 to 1840, the rear room was subdivided to include a small study and enlarged with a round-ended extension on the outer side.

On the left end, set back from the front and overlapping slightly to the rear on the same axis as the main block, is a service wing containing the present kitchen and a garage and workshop, which were formerly stables and coach house.

The main house rises two storeys with attics in the roof space, and the rear room of the crosswing has a cellar beneath. The front elevation presents a nearly symmetrical three-window composition. The front passage doorway is positioned slightly right of centre and contains a 19th-century six-panel door with a contemporary two-light overlight featuring tiny panes of leaded glass, and a simple flat-roofed porch supported on slender turned timber posts with a minimally-moulded, possibly replacement, entablature. It is flanked by 19th-century sashes: a 12-pane sash to the right and a 16-pane sash to the left. The first floor contains contemporary two-light casements with glazing bars, although the left one has been replaced by a 20th-century iron-framed casement.

The front end of the crosswing features an early 19th-century tripartite sash with a central 12-pane sash on each floor, and a 20th-century replacement dormer to the attic. The eaves along the entire front are carried on wide-spaced shaped brackets, and the early 19th-century cast iron gutter features lion's head masks over the joints. The main block roof is gable-ended. The crosswing is taller with a steeply-pitched roof hipped at each end.

The outer side is largely blind except for the early 19th-century round-ended projection, which contains a ground-floor 24-pane (12 over 12) sash and first-floor 12-pane sash. Its roof has a rounded hip with slate coating. The rear end has a 12-pane sash on each floor, both on the right side, and an early 19th-century dormer to the attic.

The rear of the main block displays a 19th-century four-panel door to the through passage with a 20th-century casement above, and to the left, a large oak early 18th-century stair window with mullion-and-upper-transom framing. The mullions and transoms are flat-faced with internal shallow ogee mould, containing rectangular panes of leaded glass.

The low service block to the left of the front has a single-window front of late 19th-century casements with glazing bars and a contemporary part-glazed three-panel door to the present kitchen. The roof steps down to the left over the single-storey garage, which has 20th-century double garage doors, and the workshop, which has a 20th-century fixed pane window. This section is gable-ended.

The interior demonstrates high-quality work from the three main building phases. The former parlour (left room of the main block) contains a mid 16th-century richly moulded axial beam and similar half-beams against the walls as cornice. Below the beams against the passage crosswall is another similarly-moulded beam with broad step stops, which appears to be the headbeam of the original partition. The fireplace is 18th or 19th century, constructed of granite with a roughly-finished square-cornered lintel and including a 19th-century brick-lined oven. The rear part of the through passage is stone-flagged.

The main stair is a large and high-quality open well stair with closed string, square-section newel posts, moulded pine flat handrail with swan's neck ramps, and richly-turned oak balusters including blocks. The upper flight is supported on a large turned softwood post. Although some features appear more mid 18th-century in style, this stair must be associated with the early 18th-century refurbishment.

The front room of the crosswing is lined with early 18th-century oak bolection panelling in two heights with box cornice. The bolection chimneypiece is unusual, with plain blocks on either side interrupting the moulding. The fireplace has a curving pentan. The rear room and study contain early 19th-century joinery detail, with the main room displaying a contemporary chimneypiece and moulded plaster cornice. The front windows of the wing and stairhall have early 19th-century fielded panel shutters. Most other joinery detail is early 18th-century, with most doors being two-panel, some with fielded panels.

The main block roof dates to the mid 16th century. It is four bays, with the central truss originally closed with large framing. The lower parts of the principals are either hidden or cut off. The open trusses have cambered collars and chamfered arch-bracing, and take three sets of chamfered butt purlins. The left two bays, over the former parlour, have two sets of windbraces with the upper pair inverted. The other two bays have only single sets of windbraces.

The crosswing has an early 18th-century roof of A-frame trusses with pegged lap-jointed collars. The garage and workshop roof is a 20th-century replacement.

From the rear of the crosswing and the service wing, high plastered cob and rubble walls with pantile coping extend northwards to adjoin the churchyard wall, enclosing a rear garden.

Heron Court is an interesting and attractive house containing high-quality work from the mid 16th century, early 18th century, and circa 1830 to 1840. Very little has been undertaken to alter it since that period.