The Old House

The Old House, located at No 35 on Church Street in Great Missenden, is a building dating from the 16th or 17th century. It features a timber-framed structure that has been altered and encased in brick, with much of the exterior designed to imitate timber framing. The roof is covered with old tiles and there is a large brick chimney stack at the center.

The building stands two storeys high and has three gables on the front elevation, each adorned with fretted bargeboards and finials. Below these gables are three two-storey canted bay windows, each with old leaded windows; the first-floor windows have shallow arched heads for the three-light center sections. A door is positioned to the right of the center. The rear elevation also displays three gables and includes an early 19th-century single-storey extension that features a parapet and a four-light casement window with "gothic" heads. A rainwater head on the building is dated 1825.

Inside, the entrance hall is lined with early 17th-century oak panelling. The staircase, which has turned balusters and newels with turned finials, dates from the early 18th century but is likely not original, as the continuation to the attic appears to be older. The left-hand ground floor room contains two oak posts with roughly moulded capitals and shafts. The rear right-hand room features an over-mantel made up of early carvings from different periods. The rear left-hand room boasts a good 18th-century dentil cornice, a wooden fireplace surround, and an over-mantel with Italian cherub figures, likely 19th-century copies, along with arched cupboard recesses on either side that have architraves, keyblocks, and shaped shelves.

On the first floor, the front left-hand room has an original fireplace with chamfered stone jambs and an oak lintel shaped into a four-centred arch. The rear left-hand room is lined with re-used 17th-century oak panelling. The attic features exposed timbers, including curved windbraces.