The Fields

The Fields is a large country house, dating from the 18th century, constructed of random squared red sandstone rubble with freestone dressings, with the rear elevation partly roughcast. The roofs are slate, laid in fish-scale bands and feature rear and side wall stacks. The building is two storeys with an attic. The principal rooms are arranged in an L-plan, with service rooms and other spaces contained within two parallel gabled wings to the rear. A full-height octagonal turret with an ogee leaded roof sits at the southeast angle of the two ranges, forming the main entrance. This entrance features a round-arched opening with enriched quoins and voussoirs, leading to an ornate, traceried panelled door. The upper floors have narrow windows, each featuring a continuous moulded cill band on the outer faces. An east-facing gabled wing includes a square bay window on the ground floor, topped with a castellated parapet, and three-light mullioned and transomed sash windows. A two-light mullioned and transomed sash window with an entablature is positioned on the first floor, while the attic has a two-pane sash window within a Dutch gable with pedimented coping. The south wing has a two-light mullioned and transomed sash window on each floor on its east-facing wall, with French windows in a canted bay window in the gable end. It also possesses a two-light mullioned and transomed sash window with an entablature on the first floor, and a two-pane sash window to the attic within a Dutch gable. A substantial rear wall stack has three stone shafts and an embattled parapet. A late 19th-century conservatory projects from the gable of the south wing; it appears to be a secondary feature, although it may stand in place of an earlier conservatory. The conservatory’s construction incorporates yellow brick on a stone plinth, with staggered glazing to create a curving structure topped with a clerestory. The rear wings each have Dutch gables, with ornamental pediments at their apex. A four-light mullioned and transomed sash window with stained glass margin-lights illuminates the staircase in the south gable, which is extended with single-storey additions to the west.

Inside, an octagonal entrance lobby leads to a central internal hall, divided by a shallow archway and featuring a fireplace within a top-lit rear section. The lobby and hall have coloured tiled floors. The house includes two principal living rooms, facing south and east, alongside service rooms and a staircase to the rear. The staircase features cast iron newels decorated with trefoil and quatrefoil motifs. A large first-floor landing has an ornate cast iron rail enclosing glazed panels, which provide borrowed light to the lower hall. Similarly enriched cast iron balusters ascend to the attic.