Plymouth House and adjoining Coach-house

Plymouth House and adjoining Coach-house

Plymouth House is a large two-storey house with attics, built in a symmetrical Renaissance-style plan. It comprises a central block with gabled wings advanced to the front, a central staircase outshut to the rear, and an adjoining coach-house range to the rear of the east wing.

The front elevation is constructed of hand-made red brick under slate roofs, with buff stone quoins and banding between storeys, a stone plinth, and scalloped bargeboards. A large brick chimney is positioned towards the left on the rear roofslope. Stone steps lead to the central doorway, which is set in a renewed classical-style doorcase with bracketed hood and a panelled door. The entrance is flanked by two almost square horned sash windows, matched on the first floor between which sits a former narrow opening with a segmental brick head, now infilled with brick. To each side, the gabled wings contain tripartite horned sash windows with gauged brick heads. Two windows light the ground and first floors and single attic windows. The bottom left window has a segmental brick head. Two stone mullioned windows to the basement of the right wing are both two-light with chamfered mullion and moulded head. A boundary wall in red-brown and yellow brick with banded gatepiers topped by moulded yellow brick copings and simple wooden gates is attached to the left of the front.

The east and west ends and rear of the house are rendered with roughcast. The west end has no openings. A small segmental-headed light with 20th-century glazing is positioned at the far left of the east end. A small attic light serves the rear of the east wing. A wide two-storey staircase projection protrudes from the centre of the rear, with a pair of small-pane sashes to the right and a single sash above. To the left is an added two-storey flat-roofed block with 20th-century windows and a doorway into the east side. A further single-storey flat-roofed extension extends to the left with a door and window. Adjoining this is a narrow range at right angles (formerly a tack room) constructed of blue brick under a slate roof with a brick end stack to the right. It comprises two units, each with a planked door to the right and four-pane window to the left, all with segmental yellow brick heads. A rubble wall to the rear contains a two-light casement window.

The two-storey coach-house adjoins the rear gable of the east wing. It is built of the same brickwork as the front with a buff stone string course and quoins on a high stone plinth under a slate roof. The east side features a wide segmental-headed carriage entrance offset to the right with double planked doors. To its right is a planked door with overlight under a segmental brick head. An inserted first floor door sits immediately above. Loft hatches are positioned to the left and right. The south end has two narrow segmental-headed openings, now infilled; within the right blocking is a six-pane window, and beneath the left sits a pair of planked doors. The west side has four ventilation slits to the upper storey above the buff stone string course. A blocked doorway with timber lintel occupies the left of the ground floor, and an infilled recess sits to the right.

Interior

The front door leads into a central stair-hall containing a Jacobean open-well oak staircase to the right. It has flat shaped and pierced balusters, square newels with carved motifs and large decorated finials, and a moulded handrail. Throughout the house, large chamfered spine beams dating from the 1670s feature either cut or run-out stops. Other details include panelled doors in moulded frames and wooden floors of around 1750.

To the left of the stair-hall is a room with two spine beams and a stone fireplace to the east with a replaced Tudor arched lintel and moulded mantel. A passage in front of this room leads into the dining room, which was formerly the bar. It contains a single deep-chamfered spine beam and a large fireplace to the rear wall with an arched timber bressumer. New brickwork skins the rear of the fireplace, with bread-ovens flanking it on each side; the right oven has a segmental brick head and the left a concrete hood. An original brick-lined chimney with arched flues leads into it from the ovens. A further large reception room to the right of the stair-hall has two spine beams and a 1750s partition towards the rear. A grey marble fireplace with Tudor-style decoration occupies the end wall. A 20th-century bathroom is positioned at mid-level off the staircase.

The first floor maintains a similar arrangement of rooms to the ground floor, with spine beams and segmental-headed brick fireplaces. The staircase continues to the attic storey, where it curves and the newels become plainer. The attic storey is open to the roof, with large rooms to the left and right. The roof structure features two large purlins to each pitch of the main range and wings. The structure has been further supported in the late 20th century.

The interior of the coach-house has been divided by a later brick partition. The first floor is missing, although the cross-beams still survive with two purlins to each roof pitch. At the north end sits a narrow first-floor fireplace with arched head and a blocked opening to its right. This is not original, indicating that accommodation was a secondary use.