12 And 14, Station Road

This is a large house, originally a timber-framed aisled hall, dating to the 13th and early 14th centuries. A substantial stack was inserted in the 16th century. The building was later encased in brick in the 17th century, and extended in the late 17th or 18th century, with further rear extensions added around 1820 as part of the estate of the Duke of Bridgewater.

The house is timber-framed and encased in brick, with tile roofs. It comprises a hall, a crosswing to the left, a gabled extension to the rear of the hall. The original hall is believed to have been a two-bay structure with a deep cross passage. The service end was removed and incorporated into the current crosswing, and a solar bay was located on the site of number 10 Station Road. The house has two storeys and cellars.

The hall is constructed of red brick in a Flemish bond, with vitreous headers. The symmetrical three-bay facade features an entrance opposite a central stack, with a ledge and batten door under a 20th-century porch. The ground floor has three-light casements with square leaded panes and gauged red brick heads, while the single light over the door is similarly detailed. A quadrate brick stack rises centrally, with a slender brick design. A further stack is located to the left.

The crosswing is built of red-brown brick with vitreous headers, featuring a plinth and bands to the gable wall on the first and second floors. It also has three-light leaded casements with gauged brick heads. The return elevation has altered brickwork and first and second-floor casements, the ground floor windows are also under gauged brick heads. An early 20th-century timber porch and door now provide access.

The rear has a catslide roof to the former aisle, and a gabled extension with an external stack, dating to the late 19th or 20th century. The 18th-century crosswing has a later outshot. A central inserted stone and brick stack is prominent. To the left is a chamfered bressumer. Inserted floors exhibit chamfered joists with bar stops. A fragment of a possible base cruck is visible to the northeast of the stack, and a remnant of an arcade post is found in a cupboard to the south. On the first floor, exposed arcade plates display stop splayed and tabled scarfs. The arcade posts are fitted with cut-off passing braces and longitudinal arcade braces.

A first-floor chamber, formerly the upper end of the hall, retains an exposed crown post truss with passing braces, including a short octagonal crown post with a moulded base and collar, braced four ways. A painted frieze in monochrome geometrical design is found on the north arcade plate. The central truss is characterized by a tall, slender crown post with chamfered angles, with passing braces cut off to accommodate the stack. The crown post is visibly sooted to the east and smoke blackened to the west. The western truss features double passing braces, with possible evidence of a missing crown post. Stone chimneypieces are present on the ground floor and on the rear first floor of the crosswing. A peacock is incised into the plaster on a rear stair wall.

A freestanding brick outbuilding, constructed around 1820 by the Duke of Bridgewater, is located to the rear, and originally housed earth closets and possibly a pigeon house.