TQ 53 37 SPELDHURST THE WALKS, OLD GROOMBRIDGE 16/599 Nos 7, 8 and 9 (formerly listed as Nos 2, 3 and 4) 20.10.54 GV II* 3 cottages, probably built as one house originally. Late C17/early C18 with C19 alterations. Flemish bond brick with decorative burnt headers on the front, rear wall is coursed sandstone up to first floor level and brick above. Brick stacks and chimneyshafts. Peg-tile roof. Plan: Row of 3 cottages facing south and numbering 7-9 from left to right. No 9 is now incorporated into The Crown (q.v.) adjoining to right. All are one-room plan cottages but there is a fourth room between Nos 8 and 9 divided by an axial wall, the front room belonging to No 8 and the rear part now belonging to No 9. An axial stack between Nos 7 and 8 serves back-to-back fireplaces. The end stack of No 9 appears to be a secondary insertion and the ground floor is divided by an axial wall. Inconsistencies in the layout such as flying freeholds suggest that the building was originally a single house. The proposed layout of the late C17/early C18 house is a 3-room-and-through-passage plan. No 7 occupies the putative parlour, No 8 the putative hall/kitchen, the shared room the putative passage and No 9 the putative service end room. In the later C18 or C19 the house was divided up into cottages. The rear outshots may date from this time. 2 storeys with attics in the roofspace with lean-to outshots to rear of Nos 7 and 8. Exterior: Regular 4-window front. Ground floor window right of centre is a C20 canted bay window with glazing bars. Other ground floor windows have low segmental brick arches over. All the front windows are probably late C18 or C19 casements, those on the ground floor contain rectangular panes of leaded glass while those on the first floor and the dormers contain diamond panes of leaded glass. All 3 front doorways contain C19 4-panel doors under shallow flat hoods on shaped timber brackets. Above the right ground floor window (No 9) there is a sandstone sundial plaque with Roman numerals (it has no arm). Roof is gable-ended. To rear of Nos 7 and 8 the roof is carried down over the outshots and contains 2 relatively large hip-roofed dormers. These, like most of the rear windows are late C18 or C19 casements containing diamond panes of leaded glass. Outshot walls of coursed stone ashlar. The back wall of No 9 is coursed stone ashlar up to first floor level and tile-hung timber framing above. The 2 first floor windows are late C17/early C18 2-light windows containing diamond panes of old glass, some green-tinged. The left one has an iron casement with ornamental wrought iron catch. Interior: Mostly plain carpentry detail where exposed. Most ground floor rooms have plain axial beams except for the joists of the putative passage which are chamfered with step stops. First floor rooms have chamfered axial beams, a couple of them with step stops. Roof where it can be seen of tie- beam trusses with staggered butt purlins. Both fireplaces of the axial stack have been somewhat altered. Old, possibly original, winder stair in front of the axial stack (now used by No 8). Old plain joinery including plank doors in all 3 cottages. Nos 7, 8 and 9 The Walks appear to have been built as a single house in the late C17/early C18. There seems to have been only large houses round Groombridge Green and all built in the C17 and early C18. It is an interesting development associated with nearby Groombridge Place (q.v.), itself rebuilt circa 1660-1670. More than that the cottages form part of what is probably the most unspoilt group of listed buildings in Kent. Listing NGR: TQ5302337722