The Old Court House

The Old Court House is probably a former priest's house associated with the Chapel of St Lawrence, and is now a private residence. The building largely dates to the late medieval period, with alterations made in the early or mid 17th century. It is constructed of rendered solid walls with exposed red sandstone quoins. The roof is covered in asbestos slates, with a horse-rider ceramic ridge tile dating to the 1970s. A projecting stone rubble chimney was added to the right in the 17th century.

The house originally comprised two rooms and a through-passage. The medieval hall is located to the left, featuring a later chimneybreast in the gable wall. A service room to the right was converted into a heated parlour in the 17th century. Evidence suggests the original house extended further to the left, with a former rear wing evident in the form of a battered wall.

The front facade has a doorway with an early or mid 17th-century double-ovolo-moulded wooden frame, flanked by casement windows with glazing bars. Above, to the left is a three-light window with ovolo-moulded mullions. At the rear of the passage is a medieval wooden door frame with a sharply pointed arch. To the right of this, behind the service end, is a blocked doorway with plain red sandstone jambs.

Inside, stud-and-panel screens divide the rooms, with chamfered studs on both sides of the passage screen to the right. This screen features a diagonal-cut stops and a shouldered-head doorway. Adjoining this is the remains of a matching doorway. The screen to the left originally contained a flat-headed doorway, approximately 2 meters wide, which was reduced in width in the early or mid 17th century by the insertion of two scratch-moulded studs. The right-hand room has a fireplace with an early or mid 17th-century ovolo-moulded wooden lintel. A chamfered longitudinal beam is supported at the left-hand end by a shoulder-headed post that seems to be an integral part of the screen. A 19th-century kingpost-and-ridge roof is present.