TQ 53 37 SPELDHURST THE WALKS, OLD GROOMBRIDGE 16/600 The Crown including service 20.10.54 buildings adjoining to north (formerly listed as No 1 The Crown Hotel) GV II* Public house. Mid/late C17 with some C19 and C20 modernisations. Timber- framed on coursed sandstone footings; most is hung with peg-tiles but front wall is rebuilt (or faced up) with Flemish bond red brick with decorative burnt headers. Brick stacks, the east one with a tall stone base, and brick chimneyshafts, the west one of early brick, tall with divided shafts. Peg- tile roof. Plan: 3-room plan building facing south used as a public house. Although most of the ground floor partitions have been moved or knocked out to create larger bar space the original layout is clear. Unheated central entrance hall. Maybe the original staircase was here; present staircase is C20 to rear. Left (west) room was the kitchen and has an end stack. Right (east) room was the parlour with a projecting gable-end stack. The main block is the oldest part of the building. One-room rear block at right angles of the parlour shows no sign that it is any earlier than the C19. It has a rear gable-end stack. 2 storeys with attics in the roofspace and various secondary outbuildings to rear (described below). Exterior: Attractive irregular 3-window of C19 sash windows (some are horned replacements. Ground floor left is a wide 15-pane sash. The rest are 12-pane sashes, those at the right end in tripartite sashes. Front doorway is left of centre. It contains a C20 plank door in a C19 frame under a flat hood on shaped brackets. Roof is gable-ended and includes 3 front hip-roofed dormers containing casements with diamond panes of leaded glass. Rear contains C20 casements. Part of the lean-to outshot is built of coursed sandstone suggesting that it is early, if not original. Interior: Apart from the ground floor partitions the original structure appears to be well-preserved. All the ground and first floor rooms have chamfered and scroll-stopped axial beams. Both ground floor fireplaces are brick with chamfered oak lintels, mostly with scroll stops. Similar fireplace to the parlour chamber and its hearth is supported on a pair of timber plates projecting from the chimneybreast and they have shaped ends. Roof of 3 bays carried on tie-beam trusses of relatively large scantling timbers. A-frame trusses with clasped side purlins and queen struts. Parlour chamber is lined with C17 small field oak panelling and has a C17 moulded plaster cornice. Also early doorway into this room (now blocked) has a bead-moulded solid frame. Rear outbuildings: Behind the rear block a single storey service wing continues at right angles to the main house. It has a 2-room plan with a brick axial stack between. It is built of brick, the front room is old but the rear one was rebuilt in the C20. Behind this wing an L-plan stable block. Most is weatherboarded but the south wall of the east wing is coursed sandstone. Both wings have half-hipped peg-tile roof. The Crown is an attractive and interesting building in its own right. However it is more important as a mid/late C17 building associated with Groombridge Place (q.V.) which was itself rebuilt circa 1660-1670 and also forms part of one of the best groups of unspoilt buildings in Kent as part of old Groombridge. Listing NGR: TQ5304637720