Seven Eyes

Seven Eyes

A timber-framed building with an asymmetrical front elevation, single-storey with attics, constructed of painted brickwork beneath an exceptionally long tiled roof. The roof is half-hipped to the left end with a lower ridge height to the right bay, finished with wide boarded eaves. Three brick chimney stacks with clustered shafts and dentilled bands are set at the ends of the upper ridge, with the right stack set forward, and a third stack positioned towards the centre of the front roof pitch.

The front roof pitch is articulated by three tiers of gabled attic dormers. Cut into the right side is an 18th-century pent-house. To the left is the entrance bay, featuring half-glazed double panelled doors with rosettes, a small-pane overlight, and pilasters with corbels supporting the overhanging eaves. This entrance bay is canted to the right and contains tall horned sash windows: six-over-nine panes to the front and four-over-six panes to the canted angle. The wide boarded eaves are supported by a bracket to the right. Further right stands a two-storey, two-window pent-house with a shallow lean-to ground floor under a tiled roof and tile-hung upper storey. A replaced panelled door to the far right has a gabled porch canopy on brackets with a square door head visible behind. Two horned tripartite sash windows light the ground floor, with two-light small-pane casements to the upper storey immediately under the eaves. The gabled attic dormers have tile-hung sides, white-painted gables, and contain very small-pane casement windows. These dormers are asymmetrically arranged in three tiers: three to the middle tier, and two each to the top and bottom tiers. Most are two-light casements, except for the lower left dormer, which is wider with a three-light casement, and the left dormer of the middle tier, which is narrower. The half-hipped section of roof partly projects over the adjacent property.

The rear elevation is three windows wide, two-storey with attics, constructed of brick with openings having segmental brick heads. At the far right, a wooden door stands under a gabled porch canopy, with a blocked opening above at first floor, a very small light, and a small late 20th-century attic light. A two-window section to the left contains wooden cross-windows with small-pane glazing; the ground floor has a small lean-to to its left, and the first floor includes a fire-escape door reached by metal stairs. The attic storey has two gabled half-dormers. A very narrow lower bay at the left end is tile-hung to the upper storey, with a half-glazed boarded door and a two-light small-pane casement above.

The ground floor contains the remains of possibly two spere-trusses towards the south end. The internal south truss has a substantial cambered tie-beam on a jowled free-standing post (surviving to the front only), with a curved brace between post and tie-beam, and a second brace attached to the post facing towards the front, probably for a former wing. To the south end, part of a truss survives at the southwest angle, possibly a second spere-truss. A short section of the cambered tie-beam is all that survives of the internal north truss, adjacent to the bottom of the staircase. The north bay appears to have been remodelled in the 17th century, with close-studded wattle and daub infill to the north end wall and an arched doorway to the left, now infilled, which formerly led into the adjacent property; the rear wall is also close-studded. The ceiling contains two stop-chamfered spine-beams. A centrally-located staircase runs parallel with the building: a good 17th-century timber dog-leg stair with heavy turned balusters, square newels with caps, and a moulded handrail. One flight leads to the first floor, opposite the top of which and at an angle stands a fine plaster panel bearing an armorial shield dated 1657 above and a Latin inscription below, flanked by panels with strapwork motifs and rosettes. The first floor contains possibly two internal spere-trusses identical to those below. The internal south truss is open; the internal north truss was altered in the 17th century, but the free-standing post towards the front suggests it was a spere-truss. It contains a 17th-century partition with two doorways: the right doorway leads to the staircase, the left leads to a higher-level room at the north end with plastered walls. The left doorway has a segmental head cut into the soffit of the tie-beam, and the free-standing post on its left has a socket for a curved brace. The south end wall has a small fireplace with timber lintel, probably 18th-century. To the south and centre, cusped wind-braces are visible beneath the purlins, with the roof ceiled above. The second flight of stairs leads to the first level of the attic, beyond which is a spiral staircase in the same style. The top of the attic is two-bay with a central tie-beam truss with collar, containing a partition with a central doorway and vertical posts.