Kings House

Kings House is a timber-frame house dating to approximately 1603, originally built for Robert Hawthorne, likely on the site of an earlier structure. A late 17th-century addition was made to the south, and the house was subdivided around 1800, with later additions and alterations including a restoration between 1900 and 1910 by the architect SH Healing. The house is constructed with a freestone plinth and a stone wing to the south-east, with a brick lean-to abutting it to the southwest; it has a stone slate roof with some 20th-century replacement slates and a stone ridge stack.

The house has a two-cell plan with an off-centre stack and back-to-back fireplaces with a staircase to its southeast side. The east and west fronts are jettied, featuring a plinth and sill beam. The timber framing is mostly close studding, with ornamental small square panels featuring concave lozenges in the corner sections of the east front. Jetty beams have ogee and ovolo mouldings. The southwest lean-to provides access via a 17th-century wide-plank door and strap hinges set within a frame exhibiting ogee and ovolo mouldings and weathered vase stops. Above this, the southeast facade displays a small two-light window with an ovolo mullion. The northwest facade has three original projecting oriel windows (two to the first floor), each divided into 12 lights by ovolo mullions and a moulded transom, with ovolo and ogee mouldings on the sill and transom and an ogee-moulded lintel. A matching square projecting bay has been added to the ground floor. The southwest gable-end has a two-light ground-floor window with an ovolo mullion and a two-light casement on the first floor. The northeast gable-end has two 12-light transomed windows, the ground-floor one retaining its original sill, lintel and corner mullions, with the remaining elements replaced; it also features decorative barge-boarding.

The interior showcases extensive exposed timber framing and jowled posts. The hall ceiling is divided into 12 panels by heavy chamfered beams, featuring a fireplace with chamfered freestone, a massive lintel, and vase stops on the jambs. A six-panel door to a lobby is set within a segmental-arched surround with a carved lozenge motif. The southwest parlour (dining room) has a stone lintel with a chamfer, while the parlour ceiling is divided into six panels by chamfered beams and features a similar fireplace. A winder staircase leads to the first floor and attic, with a central newel post.

Historically, the original entrance was likely located on the northeast wall. Formerly known as Robert Hawthorne's House, after a tenant from 1608, and later Hawthorne Villa, the name "Kings House" dates from 1933. In the late 17th century, it was occupied by Charles Hawthorne and his wife Elizabeth. It is considered the only unspoiled example of a Charlton Kings yeoman’s house to survive, with the decorative lozenge panel ornamentation shared with Ham Court, Ham Road.