Kempley Court

Kempley Court is a farmhouse dating to 1689, as indicated by a datestone. The front and side elevations are of painted English bond brickwork with brick-nogged timber framing to the rear, where the rear elevation is stone slate roofed. The rear roof is tiled. It is six windows wide and two rooms deep, with two storeys. The symmetrical front facade faces the drive. All windows are mullion and transom style. The front door is half-glazed, consisting of two fielded panels, raised on two stone steps and set within a bolection-moulded surround. A flat porch hood, with an ornate panelled soffit supported on acanthus consoles, shelters the door. A string course above is cut as if it originally formed a semi-circular hood. To the left of the door is a two-light window, with a flat, rubbed-brick arch and C20 frames. To the left is a four-light window, with plain chamfer internally and an iron opening light, over a cambered brick arch. To the right is a similar four-light window, but with two wide casements and internal shutters. A plain brick string course runs between floors. The first floor has five two-light windows with flat, rubbed-brick arches, and a three-light window on the right. A datestone is positioned centrally above the front door. The eaves are open, and the roof is hipped. The right return is entirely brick, with a string course and a chimney within the building’s envelope. The left return has a brick front with a large external stack and tiled offsets; the rear half is rendered. The rear elevation has ground floor framing renewed in painted brickwork, with the exception of the main posts. Part of the brick side wall is exposed to the left. The ground floor has a blocked window, a two-light casement window, and a small window to the right of centre, with a single-light casement. A half-glazed door with marginal lights, over two flush panels, is covered by a gabled, mid-C20 porch. A three-light mullion and transom timber window is to the right, with weatherboard covering. The first floor framing extends three panels high to the eaves, with weatherboard on the sill to the left, and a two-light casement above, also with weatherboard. A two-light casement with leaded lights is centrally located, possibly over a blocked window. To the right, a C20 two-light casement and a two-light casement with weatherboard are present. Above the three gables, the left two have two collars, with weatherboard to the lower portion and a two-light casement over. The right gable has studs only and may have originally contained a central door, now replaced with a two-light casement with leaded lights. The roofs have two pairs of purlins and a square ridge. The interior was not inspected. The building forms a group with the barn and gateposts.