Pauntley Court

Pauntley Court is a country house dating from the late 16th or 17th century, with alterations made in the 17th century, early 19th century, and late 20th century. The building is constructed with close-studded timber-framing and rendered infill, most notably in the right wing. The left wing is also at least partly timber-framed, rendered over. The cross wing combines timber-framing on its outer face with brick construction roughcast rendered, while the courtyard face is rough render throughout. The roof is tiled, except for the outer slope of the right wing, which is covered with stone slates.

The building follows an irregular U-plan with a cross section two rooms deep, rising to two storeys, with the right wing originally featuring attics. The open end of the U faces towards the church. The right wing's outer face features timber-framing without an intermediate rail and a low sill. A blocked 3-light mullion and transom window appears on the left, while the right side has two late 20th-century three-light French doors. The end section is rendered with a sash window.

On the first floor, there are two late 20th-century casement windows, a blocked window to the right, and a 2-light 18th-century casement at the end. Above these are three gables with returned roofs extending beyond the ends. The left gables contain blocked 3-light casement windows with curved V-struts above them, while the right gable is plain rendered.

Set back on the right is a rendered wall. On the left half is a glazed door with flush panels below and a moulded surround, positioned beneath a wide flat porch supported on timber posts, with a 4-pane wide sash window to the right. The first floor has two sash windows, while a hipped roof ends the right section; a lower, wider hip extends on the left, partly behind the right wing. A chimney is set back in the valley.

On the right return, the ground floor displays 3-panel high timber-framing on the left with a blocked window, and a projecting base to a chimney. To the right is close-studded timber-framing with a 4-pane wide sash window. The right half of this wall is rough-rendered brickwork with a 4-pane wide sash, a late 20th-century French door (replacing the original), and access via four stone steps. Two sashes appear to the right, with a cellar window head in the plinth at the right end. The first floor has a twin sash window on the left, which replaces an originally narrower, taller window. A line marking where a chimney (since removed) once cut through the framing appears to the right. The framing varies to the right, with a single-pane window and two sashes. Four sash windows are set in the rendered brick wall. The roof is hipped at each end, with the right half having a higher ridge than the left.

The interior includes a large room in the left end of the cross wing, featuring three sash windows and a French door on the right return. This room contains panelled shutters and reeded surrounds to doors and windows with corner paterae, along with a plaster cornice decorated with swags and acanthus leaves. The room behind the half-glazed door under the porch has a stone-paved floor with limestone set in a diamond pattern with black inserts and a modillion plaster cornice.

Originally a courtyard house, a wing that closed the yard on the church side has since been removed. This may have been rebuilt as the present stable block. The house was noted as neglected by 1779. The property belonged to the Whittington family in the Middle Ages. Richard Whittington, Lord Mayor of London in the late 14th and early 15th centuries, was born in an earlier building on the site. The house forms a group with the church, dovecote, stables, and mill. The interior of the roof to the cross and gabled wings was not inspected.