Orchard House And Front Railings

Orchard House is a detached house located in Hurst, dating from the 16th century with a later front addition. It is constructed from ham stone rubble but features a colourwashed brick facade in Flemish bond, with ashlar dressings. The roof is made of Welsh slate over stone slate base courses, topped with stepped coped gables and brick chimney stacks. The house has an 'L' plan, is two storeys high, and has five bays, with the fifth bay being a one-bay gabled projection.

The upper windows are horizontal bar casements, with three lights in most bays except for the upper bay three, which has four lights. The lower bay one features a 20th-century four-light window in reconstructed stone surrounds. Bays three and four have plain mullioned windows with four and three lights respectively, while bay two has a 20th-century door set in a deep recess with a plain beaded surround. The north return of bay five contains 20th-century casements, with the lower part of a former shop window partially blocked and a blocked doorway to the left. The north gable reveals an earlier lower roof line.

Inside, the central room boasts a nine-bay deep moulded beam panelled ceiling, and the north wall features a wide fireplace with a chamfered beam, a gable entry, and a winding stone stair with an oval light. There are also 18th-century features in the wings on either side. The central portion has one visible raised cruck, suggesting that others may still be present.

Approximately three meters west of the house, there are wrought iron railings set mostly on low stone walling. These railings have arrowhead tops and cast urn finials on arch-braced standards, along with a matching gate opposite the door. The north section of the railings was newly installed in June 1985 to match the original design.