Description

In the entries for the following serial numbers ---

14/156, 14/157, 14/158, 14/159, 14/160, 14/161, 14/162, 14/163, 14/164, 14/165
14/166, 14/167, 14/168, 14/169, 14/170, 14/171, 14/172, 14/173, 14/174, 14/175
14/176, 14/177, 14/178, 14/179, in the parish of Brenchley.

The address shall be amended to read---

"THE GREEN, Matfield" in place of "MATFIELD GREEN"

------------------------------------

TQ 65 41 BRENCHLEY MATFIELD GREEN
(east side)
14/176 Cherry Trees including Post
Office and art gallery

GV II

House, art gallery and Post Office. House circa early/mid C15 with C17 and
C19 alterations. Post Office and art gallery probably late C19. The house is
framed construction, clad in weatherboarding; peg-tile roof; brick stacks.
Post Office and art gallery weatherboarded with slate roofs, the art gallery
converted from a shop.

Plan: West facing complex, the house on a north south axis, the Post Office
and gallery adjoining at right angles at the front left (north west). The
house originated as an open hall, storeyed at the right (south) end. The
lower (north) end has been partly rebuilt and the position of the original
entrance is not clear. In the circa late C16/early C17 the hall was floored
with an axial stack with back-to-back fireplaces inserted in the lower end bay
of the hall giving a lobby entrance arrangement. In the circa early/mid C19
the right hand (south) room was converted to a parlour with an end stack
added. The rear (east) outshut may also be C19. The partial rebuilding of
the north end is probably C17.

Exterior: 2 storeys. Post Office and art gallery single storey.
Asymmetrical 5-window front to the house. Roof hipped at the left end,
gabletted at the right end. C19 gabled porch to the lobby entrance with
shaped bargeboards and a panelled outer door flanked by one-light windows with
diamond leaded panes. Various C19 and C20 casements. 2 3-light windows right
of the porch have C20 diamond leaded panes; 3 first floor casements with
glazing bars. To the lett of the porch 2 gabled dormers with casement windows
with glazing bars are visible above the Post Office and gallery. These
buildings are gabled to the front under a 2-span roof with curly pierced
bargeboards to the gables. The Post Office to the left (north) has a 5-light
transomed timber window, one pane occupied by the letter box. The gallery has
a late C19 shop front with a half-glazed recessed door flanked by 6-pane
windows with 4-pane windows on the inner returns of the doorway.

Interior: Cherry Trees is very unspoiled with well-preserved carpentry. The
hall retains its C15 moulded, brattished dais beam and C17 cross beam and
exposed joists. The C17 fireplace has a chamfered lintel. The inner room
probably retains C15 joists concealed behind the C19 plaster and has a C19
timber chimney-piece. The north fireplace to the axial stack is blocked. The
wall framing is very complete with jowled wall posts and big curved tension
braces to the C15 crosswall between the chamber over the hall and over the
right end room are exposed on the first floor, which preserves early joinery
and old wall and ceiling plaster.

Roof: The C15 roof survives complete over the centre and right (north) end of
the house. It is crown post construction with a plain post with 4-way bracing
at the south end of the hall and a moulded octagonal crown post with 4-way
bracing just south of the inserted stack, the timbers are heavily sooted above
the hall. Beyond the stack sooted rafters are supplemented with clean ones
and a cambered birdsmouth tie is used over the north end.

Listing NGR: TQ6593741885

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26542683

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

• 
  Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Sussex: East with Brighton and Hove (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Buildings of England)
• 
  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)