Cobthorne

Cobthorne is a magnificent house dating from 1700, located on the south side of West Street. It is set back from the road with a gravel court and features a double entrance that was presumably once enclosed by iron railings. The house is two storeys high with a semi-basement and has five windows. It is constructed of coursed rubble with flush dressed quoins, a deep plinth, and a band at the first-floor level that has deep moulding at both the top and bottom. The massive coved plaster eaves extend around the sides, and the steep double-gabled stone slate roof is splayed at the corners to cover the eaves, topped with slate across the gable ends. The gables have plain verges and are adorned with four large stone chimney stacks, each featuring a panel on every face and heavy cornices, along with lunettes in each gable.

The road front displays three large hipped dormers and two-light stone mullioned windows in the basement. The ground and first-floor windows are early sash windows, complete with heavy glazing bars, wide wooden cases, shallow reveals, and wide architraves that have moulded inner and outer edges, along with moulded cills. The architrave of the central window is eared and shouldered, with ramped volutes on the sides. The central entrance is approached by a semi-circular flight of six steps and features a heavy doorcase with two panelled pilasters and consoles that support a triangular pediment, which breaks into the cill of the first-floor window. The doorway is relatively low and semi-circular-headed, with pilasters and an archivolt, and above it, between the base of the pediment and the door, is an oval light with a double moulded archivolt. The entrance is completed with a good panelled door. There is a single-storey extension to the east with a lateral gable and two late sash windows. The interior is noted to be good, and the garden front is very much in keeping with the street front.

Cobthorne is part of a group that includes Nos 2 to 36 (even), 42 to 46A (even), and 52 to 98 (even).