TQ 53 NW SPELDHURST GROOMBRIDGE HILL (west side), OLD GROOMBRIDGE 7/521 Hillside 12.12.80 GV II House. 1871 to the designs of R. Norman Shaw for William Cotton Oswell, explorer who discovered Lake Ngami with David Livingstone. Polygonal bay added to front elevation in 1874 (information from the owner); some C20 modernisation to the interior. Old English style. Flemish bond brick to the ground floor, the first floor tile hung with a mixture of hammer-head and inverted scallop tiles, some cladding in timber-framing. Peg-tile roof with crested pierced ridge tiles; brick stacks. Plan: Roofed on a north south axis, entrance elevation faing east, the house is sited on a sharply sloping site which drops away to the south. Irregular plan, principal rooms to the south end, entrance hall with staircase in the centre, service rooms to the north east. The gradient up the site allows a half-basement, including a fireplace. The site is said to have been chosen to satisfy the exploring interests of the patron and includes an observatory platform on the roof with views across Kent and Sussex. A contemporary coach house projects to the front at the right (north east) of the service end forming a front courtyard. Exterior: 2 storeys and attics with half-basement. Steeply pitched main roof with gables; shallow projecting stacks with very tall brick shafts with corbelled brick cornices. Asymmetrical 2-window entrance (east),front plus a polygonal 1874 bay at the left end. The main block has 2 gables to the front, the attic storey jettied, with a front lateral stack to the left. Ground floor brick, first floor and attic gables hung with hammerhead tiles, first floor hung with inverted scalloped tiles with a band of peg-tiles at first floor level. Recessed porch to left of centre with a double-chamfered brick doorway with a 3-centred arch and stone hoodmould. C17 style front door with moulded nailed cover strips forming rectangular panels with original hinges ornamented with bifurcated scrolls. 4-light timber mullioned casement windows, one alongside the porch to the right, 2 to the first floor and 2 to the attic storey, the ground and first floor windows with high transoms. The polygonal bay added to the front left (south east) corner has a pyramidal roof and is hung with hammerhead tiles on the first floor. The bay is glazed with 2-light casements, transomed on the ground floor. The 1:1-window left return (south elevation) is hung with hammerhead tiles on the first floor and has a gabled projection to the left. 2 storey canted bay to the basement and ground floor, the basement window 4-light with stone mullioned windows with a pentice on brackets, the ground floor with a 6-light high transomed timber mullioned window. The first floor is jettied on curved brackets with a matching 4-light window. The attic gable oversails on brackets, the gable close-studded with a 2-light casement. The right hand block has one window to each floor, matching those in the gabled projection, with a gabled attic dormer. Deep eaves on sturdy moulded eaves brackets. The rear (west) elevation has a one-window gabled projection to the left, the main block is 2-windows with a tall lateral stack to the right and, at the right end, there is a timber-framed canted bay supported on timber posts and brackets at basement level. A single-storey projection with a lean-to roof and access to the basement adjoins the main block. Timber casement windows throughout, matching the other elevations. One raking attic dormer with a 4-light window. The stair window in the main block 4-lights with 2 transoms, formerly filled with stained glass. 2 panelled doors with moulded nailed cover strips into the basement, the left hand projetion has a French window, the first floor hung with inverted scalloped tiles, the attic gable with hammerhead tiles. The canted bay which includes some herringbone in the framing has a moulded fascia below the gable which has deep eaves and moulded bargeboards. The observatory platform on the ridge on the main roof has a stick baluster balustrade and a pyramidal roof on posts. The contemporary coachhouse is in the same style, the brick laid in English garden wall bond, the peg-tile roof with deep eaves on moulded brackets and pierced crested ridge tiles. The south elevation is blind. The east end has a pair of original panelled doors with strap hinges below a 4- light coved oriel loft window, the gable above jettied and hung with hammerhead tiles. Interior: The principal chimney-pieces have been replaced, otherwise the interior features are intact. Stair with bobbin-turned balusters; panelled doors; shutters; timber chimney-pieces to the first floor rooms. The principal ground floor room in the south west corner has plastered over crossbeams and a window seat facing south. The kitchen has an original built- in dresser; service stair with stick balusters. There was probably originally a stair or ladder to the observatory. An attractive Vernacular Revival house on a prominent site above Groombridge, group value with other houses on Groombridge Hill. Listing NGR: TQ5344838078