New Parks

New Parks is a house, believed to be a former hunting lodge of James I, dating from the 17th century. It is constructed of long, narrow red brick in garden wall bond and features pantile and plain tile roofs with stone coping and kneelers, as well as raised verges on the garden front. The building has a central ridge chimney with four diagonally placed stacks on the front range and a massive chimney with offsets at the rear, which has been rebuilt at the upper part. The house is two storeys high, with a front range that includes a two-storey gabled porch and a lower triple-gabled wing at the rear.

The garden front has a plinth and features three first-floor windows along with a single bay porch that is off-centre. All openings have been altered over time. The 19th-century entrance in the porch has a panelled door beneath an oblong fanlight, with panelled reveals and soffit in a plain wooden doorcase. There is significant patching of the brickwork, and 20th-century casements have been added. There are remains of what is likely a fire window to the right, and the present entrance is through a 20th-century porch at the rear.

Inside, there is a good closed-string staircase, although the well is now blocked. The staircase features stout turned balusters, a moulded handrail, and square newel posts with pairs of strapwork carving topped with urns carved with shields and panelling. Some decorative moulded plasterwork can be seen throughout. A fine oak door surround, now blocked, has flanking terms—one male and one female—on pedestals with strapwork and lozenges, supporting an entablature adorned with foliate scrolls and lozenges. The soffit and reveals are intricately carved with foliage and reversed shields, while the carved overdoor displays motifs of a basket of flowers and a cockerel.