TQ 53 NW SPELDHURST THE GREEN (east side), LANGTON GREEN 7/484 Old Birchetts including front area railings GV II House. Early/mid C17, enlarged in the C18, refurbished in the C19. Timber- framed. Ground floor underbuilt with Flemish bond red brick with decorative burnt headers, framing above is hung with peg-tile. Brick stacks and chimneyshafts, the original one with a base of coursed sandstone. Peg-tile roof. Plan: House is end onto The Green to the west north west, say west. It has a 3-room plan. Small front end room with lateral stack projecting from the north side. Larger middle room with large axial stack to rear. Unheated rear service room. Front 2-room section is the C17 house but the front rooms was originally an unheated service room. The stack there was inserted in the C19. Main living room behind has an original stack. Rear service room, now used as a kitchen, added in the C18. It may be that the front room was once a shop since there are separate doorways to the 2 front rooms. 2 storeys with attics in the roofspace. Exetrior: Front gable-end has a central window to each floor. Ground and first floor have C19 12-pane sashes and the attic window is blocked with peg- tile. Front doorway to right contains a C19 6-panel door with fluted doorcase under a gabled hood. Moulded timber cornice at first floor level (below the tile hanging). The gable has attractive C19 bargeboards, cusped and brattished. Only the front section of the south side is exposed (rear behind the adjoining Parish Hall). It has a 2-window front of 12-pane sashes with another 6-panel door similar to the front one. Ground floor brickwork shows various blockings and straight joins from an earlier window and doorway arrangement. The north side has various C19 and C20 casements. The roof steps down over rear section which is also gable-ended. Interior: The early carpentry structure is well-preserved for the main part. Wall framing however is plastered over. In the C17 section the beams are chamfered, some with scroll stops. Large C17 fireplace is sandstone with chamfered and scroll-stopped oak lintel. Roof over C17 section mostly rebuilt above tie-beam level in the C19 but the end trusses show that it was of clasped side purlin construction. C18 extension to rear is 2 bays. Its beams are chamfered with runout stops. Wall posts have formed jowls and roof of tie-beam trusses with clasped side purlins and raking struts. Small front garden partly enclosed by C19 cast iron railings with ornate spear finials. Old Birchetts is an attractive house which has had little C20 modernisation. It is the oldest of a good group of attractive listed buildings facing onto The Green. Listing NGR: TQ5435539273