Description

TQ 53 37 SPELDHURST GROOMBRIDGE HILL (east side),
OLD GROOMBRIDGE
16/513 Somerden
20.10.54
GV II*

House. Late C18/early C19 (possibly earlier origins). Ground floor level is
Flemish bond red brick on a brick plinth of English bond including bands of
burnt headers. First floor level is timber-framed and hung with peg-tile.
brick stacks and chimneyshafts. Peg-tile roof.

Plan: House faces south. It has a double depth plan with front and back room
either side of the central entrance hall and main staircase. Front rooms have
gable-end stacks, the left (west) end stack. Rear has 2 projecting rear
stacks. Late C19 shop added as a lean-to on the left (west) end.

2 storeys with attics in the roofspace and cellars.

Exterior: Main house has asymmetrical late C18/early C19 3-window front.
Outer bays have 16-pane sashes and central first floor 12-pane sash above
central doorway which contains a 6-panel door and an overlight with glazing
bars under a flat hood on shaped brackets. Doorway is up a flight of 6 stone
steps fenced iron railings which scroll round over the bottom curtail step.
Moulded timber eaves cornice. Roof is gable-ended and includes 2 flat-roofed
dormers. At left end of front late C19 4-panel door into the late C19 shop
that end under a leant-to roof. The end wall includes a wide 2-bay shop
window, fixed pane with glazing bars. Behind the shop the end of the house
includes a horned 6-pane sash. Rear includes a couple of old (maybe C18)
timber 2-light casement windows containing rectangular panes of leaded glass.
Central rear doorway contains a plain plank door

Interior: Was not available for inspection at the time of this survey but, if
the outside is anything to go by, it should contain a great deal of early
joinery and other detail.

Somerden, an attractive house in its own right, forms part of what must be one
of the best groups of listed buildings in Kent in Old Groombridge, all of them
associated with nearby Groombridge Place (q.v.).

Listing NGR: TQ5308437739

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17547486

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

• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 4: North: North v. 4 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gloucestershire 1: The Cotswolds: Cotswolds Pt. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990
• 
  Old House Care and Repair