Horswell House

Horswell House is a country house dating from approximately 1720 to 1740, with a rear wing of an earlier date. The front range is constructed of stuccoed stone, while the rear wing is of plastered rubble. The front has a double hipped slate roof, and the rear wing a gable ended roof. There are two brick axial stacks to the front and three brick stacks to the rear wing.

The main front range is composed of two rooms of differing depths, positioned either side of a central passage leading to a stairhall at the rear. A smaller room lies behind the left-hand room, and a large room, likely the dining room, extends behind the right-hand room, partly into the rear wing, and incorporates kitchens and service rooms. The rear wing itself has few original features, but is thought to be of the 17th century. Smaller 19th-century wings were subsequently added to the inner face of the rear wing.

The house is three storeys high with a basement. The symmetrical front has a five-window arrangement of early 19th-century hornless sashes, each with 12 panes. There are three hipped dormer windows. A 20th-century double-glazed door is centrally placed beneath an original shell hood. Deep coved plaster cornices are visible below the sprocketted eaves. The right-hand elevation of the 18th-century block features similar windows, except for a large, marginal-paned early 19th-century sash window on the ground floor to the right. The lower rear wing has sashes from the early and late 19th century, and late 19th or early 20th-century casements. At the rear of the 18th-century block is a tall, round-headed stair window with intersecting glazing bars. To the right of the house, a section of garden wall extends a short distance and terminates in stone gate piers with ball finials.

Inside, the two front rooms contain 18th-century chimneypieces of classical design with simple carved low relief decoration. The left-hand room has an egg-and-dart cornice, a six-panelled door, and panelled shutters. The right-hand room has a simple plaster frieze. Doorways to the front rooms have shouldered doorcases. The original open-well staircase has a cut string, decorated tread ends, a wreathed handrail, and turned balusters. A shallow arch connects the front and rear parts of the hall. The dining room, partly within the rear wing, also boasts an 18th-century chimneypiece and a decorative plaster cornice with an acanthus leaf ceiling rose. On the first floor, the front rooms retain their chimneypieces and have 18th-century two-panelled doors and simple moulded cornices. The attic rooms have two-panel doors, alongside two 17th-century panelled doors. The house is a good example of its period, with an unspoilt exterior and a number of 18th-century features preserved inside.