The Iron Gates

The Iron Gates is a house dating back to around 1700, with a core that may be even earlier, extensively remodelled in the 18th century to face the road. It was first recorded in rate assessments in 1696. The building is two storeys high and has five windows. These windows have cambered heads and simple architraves, with the upper sashes featuring glazing bars. The walls are currently of rubble, but were formerly stuccoed. A plinth runs along the base, and a plaster cornice with slight breaks marks the top of the wall, originally intended to correspond with stucco pilasters. A high parapet with coping stones was added in the 18th century and is constructed of brick. The front door is panelled and sits beneath a broken pediment within a bolection surround.

On the right-hand return, there’s a section of a transomed mullion window on the ground floor, and a garret window with a drip. The drip continues as a former cove, which was cut off, across the front, below the cornice. A similar course appears at the impost level of the ground floor windows. A rear wing from around 1700 is also two storeys high, with a dormer window and a three-storey angle projection containing a staircase and a rear entrance. This wing is rendered and given a grooved finish to resemble ashlar. It has a coved plaster moulded eaves cornice, moulded architraves to sash windows, cornices to the lower windows, and stucco pilasters. A glazed porch from the early 19th century features a panelled door. A rainwater head made of lead bears a shield displaying the arms of the Houlton family, who were significant clothiers in Farleigh Hungerford and Trowbridge. An ashlar chimney is also present. The roof is covered with stone tiles and includes 18th-century dormers with two-light casements and moulded pediments. Traces of a mullion window can be seen on the ground floor of the stair turret. The interior includes a mahogany staircase (now broken) and panelled ground floor rooms, although these appear to have been remodelled in the 20th century.