Merlewood

Merlewood is a large house, now divided into apartments, built in 1853 for Alfred Binyon by architects Thompson and Webster. It was extended in 1881 for William Pitt Miller. The building is constructed of limestone rubble with ashlar dressings and has a slate roof, featuring an irregular plan with steep gables.

The north facade showcases a gabled wooden porch that is cusped and ornamented, alongside three unequal gables with decorative bargeboards and a long stair window. Above the porch, there is a timber oriel window. To the right, there is a subsidiary porch with a pointed arched window in the porch room. The south front is more symmetrical, featuring two windows on each floor at the center, a gabled attic window, and flanking gables with two-storey bay windows. The right wing includes another two-storey bay window facing east, while a lower wing to the left connects to an oblong tower topped with a pyramid roof and wind vane. The front wall of the tower was rebuilt in the mid-20th century, and the right-hand return wall has a plaque carved with a coat of arms and the date '1881'. The building is adorned with tall chimneys, some of which are clustered.

Inside, elements of the original interior remain, including a fireplace decorated with coloured tiles on either side of the fire grate. The tiles create rectangular borders featuring urns with foliage, surrounding central panels that depict romanticized medieval scenes: one shows a man walking through dense woodland with a spear and dagger, while the other depicts a man in a woodland clearing outside a castle preparing to release a bird of prey for sport.