40 And 42, Cecily Hill

A house, now divided into two dwellings, dates to the mid-18th century with earlier 17th-century origins, and was altered in the 19th century. It is built of coursed squared limestone rubble, with ashlar dressings, and has a stone slate hipped roof to the main range. The house is a Palladian villa with lower flanking wings, the wing to the right now a separate dwelling, number 40. An earlier range to the rear results in a double-pile plan to the centre portion.

The main portion of number 42 is a three-storey, three-window range. The first floor features three 6-over-1 pane sashes, and three 3-over-3 pane sashes above. Two 6-over-6 pane sashes are set within moulded stone architraves on the ground floor. A 19th-century nine-panel door, with the top three panels glazed under a single-pane overlight, is contained within a moulded stone doorcase with a pediment supported on moulded brackets. Rusticated quoins are present to the ground floor left and right angles, and a plat band runs over the ground floor. A cill band for the second-floor windows is visible, although cut through by later, lengthened windows that replaced the original. A moulded stone cornice sits above, topped with a coped parapet.

The wing to the left, also part of number 42, is a two-storey, two-window range. The first floor has two blind openings, while the ground floor exhibits a blind doorway and a pair of 20th-century garage doors. A cill band is present on the first floor and a blind oculus is situated within an implied open pediment formed by a raking cornice. The wing has a parapet with moulded stone coping.

A similar wing to the right, number 40, is a two-storey, three-window range. The first floor has three 20th-century two-light timber casements. The ground floor has one similar window, and a late 18th/early 19th-century round-headed opening with a blind upper part featuring intersecting glazing bars. There is a six-panel door with the upper two panels glazed. A cill band runs along the first floor, and a blind oculus is set within an implied open pediment formed by a raking cornice. The wing has a parapet with moulded stone coping. Number 40 was rebuilt in the late 20th century behind the original front wall.

The interior of number 42 has undergone considerable alteration in the 19th and 20th centuries. The rear range, dating to the mid-to-late 17th century, features plastered beams with broad chamfers, run-out stops, and broad nicks. 18th-century chimneypieces are found in the second-floor left and right rooms, with a 19th-century marble chimneypiece in the first-floor right room; all retain 19th-century Gothic grates.