Description

TQ 53 37 SPELDHURST BIRD-IN-HAND STREET, OLD
GROOMBRIDGE
16/446 The Old Town Post Office
20.10.54 including front area railings

GV II*

House, once 2 cottages, the northern one of which was once the post office.
Probably late C17/early C18, minor C19 and C20 modernisations. Plinth of
coursed sandstone. Timber-framed. Square panel framing exposed at ground
floor level on the front where it is nogged with red brick. Rest is hung with
peg-tile. Brick stack and chimneyshaft. Peg-tile roof.

Plan: 3-room plan house facing east north east, say east and built down the
hillslope. Largest room in centre with rear lateral stack. It seems that it
was built as one house, was divided into 2 in the C18 or C19 and has been
reunited to its original form. One of the unheated rooms was probably built
as a workshop or shop.

2 storeys with attics in the roofspace and lean-to outshots to rear.
Exterior: Irregular 3-window front of old casements containing diamond panes
of leaded glass. Both front doorways (from former cottages) contain C19 plank
doors under shallow timber hoods. Roof is gable-ended and carried down over
outshots to rear. Plinth is quite high on left (south) end because of the
falling ground level.

Interior: Shows largely the result of C19 and C20 modernisations. The ground
floor fireplace has been relined with C20 brick. Only exposed carpentry on
the ground floor is the lintel and central room crossbeam, both of which have
plain chamfers. Attics are plastered and it is not possible to examine the
roof structure.

Small garden in front of the left (southern) former cottage is enclosed by C19
cast iron railings set into a sandstone sleeper wall. They include gate posts
with fleur-de-lys finials.

All the buildings around the Green are old and none have been massively
modernised in the C20. Old Groombridge is not only picturesque but is a rare
and precious collection of unspoilt old buildings, all related to Groombridge
Place (q.v.).

Listing NGR: TQ5300637663

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17547149

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2
• 
  Harrow on the Hill: A photographic portrayal of listed buildings and structures (Historic Buildings Picture Guides)
• 
  Renovating Old Houses: Bringing New Life to Vintage Homes (For Pros By Pros)
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair by Hunt. Roger ( 2008 ) Hardcover
• 
  Derbyshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)