Dene House

Dene House is a mid-19th century house built incorporating an earlier house to its rear, with elements dating back to the 17th century and early 18th century, and later 20th-century alterations. The 19th-century section is constructed of pale brown brick with a Welsh slate roof and end stacks, displaying two storeys and three bays. The central doorway has a four-panel door with an oblong fanlight, set within a doorcase with panelled reveals and a soffit. Sash windows are present throughout. The older part of the house is timber-framed, with an early 18th-century red brick outer wall on a cobble foundation. It has a pantile roof with ridge and north-end chimneys, and 20th-century dormers on the east side. This section has one storey and an attic, and a three-cell central lobby entry plan typical of the 18th century, incorporating elements of an earlier 17th-century single-aisled longhouse with a cross passage and a low end originally used for agricultural purposes. The west wall now has two 19th-century sash windows, one with glazing bars, and a modern door flanked by windows dating from around 1970. Inside, a large fireplace relates to an early 18th-century rebuilding, with a blocked entrance lobby to the right. A longitudinal beam rests on a bressummer, and parts of the timber frame are visible, including wall and arcade plates. The north room, open to the roof and aisle, retains an intact freestanding post on a padstone, and a thick aisle-tie linking it to the west outer wall, with a tie beam running across the room and resting on a truncated post. A cobbled floor is found in the low end. Despite the alterations, the 17th and early 18th-century section is significant as a rare example of a house type prevalent in the village before the late 17th century. The 19th-century section is considered of less architectural interest.