TQ 64 SE BRENCHLEY GEDGES HILL 6/84 Maynards GV II House. Circa mid C15 in origin; circa early C17 remodelling. House truncated at the north end, which was rebuilt in the 1930s when a rear wing was added and a programme of general renovation carried out. Framed construction, the ground floor underbuilt in brick, the first floor tile-hung; peg-tile roof; brick stacks. The 1930s additions are in matching materials. Plan: The house faces west. The core of the building is a circa mid C15 open hall house with a 2-bay hall and a one-bay storeyed south end. The hall has been truncated at the north end at an unknown date. The putative cross passage and lower end may have been rebuilt in the C17 judging from a secondary crossframe at the north end of the early house. Hall stack and floor probably inserted in the late C16/early C17. A rear stair projection is probably mid C17 and contemporary with raising the roof of the south end to provide better access to the attic. A 1920s photograph in the possession of the owner shows the house before the 1930s additions. These involved rebuilding the north end of the house to provide a kitchen and adding a rear right wing at right angles adjoining the main block at the south east corner providing an extra principal room. The house was refenestrated and bays added to the front elevation. A new entrance was made on the right (south) end of the main block, the porch in the angle between the main block and new rear wing. Exterior: 2 storeys and attic. Roof gabled at ends; axial stack with staggered triple shaft with a corbelled brick cornice. Asymmetrical 4-window front with 2 1930s 2 storey gabled bays, one to right of centre and one to the far right. Set of 1930s 2- and 3-light casements with diamond leaded panes; 3 gabled attic dormers. French window to the left hand of the 2 gabled bays. 1930s oak door on the right (south) return. The stair projection on the rear elevation has a gabled roof. Outshut alongside to the north with a catslide roof. The 1930s additions are in a Vernacular Revival style: the right (south) return of the 1930s rear wing has a gabled bay with brick nogging laid in herringbone patterns and a rear projection off the new north end of the house is jettied to the rear. Interior: Rich in C15 and circa late C16/early C17 carpentry. The hall in the centre retains the moulded dais beam from the medieval phase. Late C16/early C17 step-stopped beam on the long axis with step-stopped joists; open fireplace with chamfered brick jambs and a chamfered oak lintel. The right hand (south) room has a roughly-chamfered crossbeam, half the medieval joists, of massive scantling, survive intact. The chamber over the hall retains its ceiling beams, matching those of the hall below. The frame of the late C16/early C17 rear window of the chamber, now internal, survives in the axial first floor passage and retains sockets for diagonally-set mullions. The medieval wall-framing, visible on the first floor, has wallposts with flared jowls and tension braces. Secondary, taller posts have been added to the frame of the southern end of the house to raise the first floor ceiling and accommodate the upper flight of the stair in the projection which has a straight flight from the ground floor and a winder to the attic rooms. The northern cross frame, just north of the inserted stack is separate from the medieval frame. Roof: The medieval roof survives as far as the inserted hall stack. It is a crown post arrangement, the hall crown post is octagonal with a moulded capital, chamfered base and 3-way up-bracing, one brace truncated by the stack. A plain post survives in the higher end partition. The timbers over the hall are heavily-sooted. A late medieval house with well-preserved carpentry. Listing NGR: TQ6646242373