TQ 63 NE BRENCHLEY MARLE PLACE ROAD 10/153 Marle Place including courtyard 20.10.54 wall and gateway wall to the north west GV II House. Early C17 (porch dated 1619) with some C18 internal refurbishment. C19 alterations (date of 1858 on rear addition); late C19 conservatory addition. Framed construction, tile-hung in the C19 with bands of scalloped tiles; C19 tiled roof with bands of scalloped tiles; brick stacks. Early C20 gateway. Plan: The house faces north. The early arrangement was a compact 2 room lobby entrance plan to the main block, the principal rooms heated by back-to- back fireplaces in an axial stack with a rear centre stair projection. The position of the original services is not clear,one of the front rooms may have served as a kitchen or the services may have been sited to the rear where considerable remodelling has taken place. The stair projection was extended in 1858, and this may be the date of a more extensive phase of remodelling although other alterations appear to be late C19/early C20, including a cross passage broken through the axial stack on the ground floor, extensive window repair and the Vernacular Revival style cladding of the frame. Late C19 photographs by the local Brenchley photographer, William Hodges, show the conservatory under construction. Exterior: 2 storeys, and attic. Symmetrical 3-bay front, 2 gables to the front with a projecting gabled 2-storey porch in the centre, the gables with deep eaves, moulded bargeboards, pendants and finials. Fine chimneyshaft to the axial stack with 4 octagonal clustered shafts with moulded star-shaped cornices. Fine gabled porch, with an early C17 ovolo-moulded outer doorframe, the returns of the porch on the ground floor each incorporating a balustrade of 6 turned balusters. Late C19/early C20 C17 style 6-panel porch door with elaborately decorated strap hinges. The first floor of the porch has a coved oriel with a 5-light ovolo-moulded transomed window, the transom with a cornice. The gabled bays to left and right each have a 2-storey canted bay with a hipped roof with one first and one ground floor ovolo-moulded mullion and transomed window, 4-lights to the centre, one to each return; 3-light mullioned attic windows with square leaded panes. The left (east) return has 2 gables to the east. The ground floor canted bays are late C19/early C20, the left hand bay with moulded mullioned windows, the right hand bay with French windows. First and attic floor 3- and 4-light transomed windows with square leaded panes. The rear elevation is irregular, with 2 rear wings, one on either side of the stair projection which has been extended in 1858. A late C19 conservatory with a crested iron ridge adjoins the main block at the right (west) end. Courtyard wall to the north west with an early C20 gateway included in the listing. Interior: Interesting features from a number of different periods. The cross passage broken through the axial stack has a circa early C20 coved ceiling. The right hand ground floor room was refurbished in the early C18 with wall panelling, a bolection-moulded chimney-piece with integral cupboards, a cornice and decorated plaster ceiling frieze. Fine C17 dog-leg stair with turned balusters, an open string, moulded handrail and peaked finials. The stair shows evidence of alteration with flights down to the cellar and to an open fronted closet off the half landing. The first floor rooms preserve original C17 high-set ovolo-moulded 3-light windows, blocked externally. The first floor left hand room has a moulded ceiling beam and exposed joists; the right hand room has plain ceiling carpentry probably designed to take a plaster ceiling. Late C19/early C20 panelling survives on both ground and first floors. Some of the jowled wall posts of the original frame are visible on the first floor. Roof: Clasped purlin roof over the main range and stair projection. Marle Place is a high quality early C17 house with interesting later features. A reproduction of a late C19 drawing of the house by William Twopeny exists in the National Monument Record. Listing NGR: TQ6809039787