TQ 65 SW MEREWORTH MEREWORTH ROAD TQ 65 SE (north side) 1/36 & 2/36 Yotes Court - I Country house. Built circa 1656-58 for James Master. Red brick with painted plaster quoins and dressings. Hipped plain tiled roof. Central 5-bay block with l-bay wings giving the house a stretched 'H' shape. Wide plinth of coursed stone blocks topped by rubbed brick course. Basement windows in plinth of centre recess. Flat band and moulded cornice with covered soffit. 7 dormers with some sli- ding casements. Tall brick chimney stacks, 2 bearing dates 1656 and 1658, with sunk arched panels. Raised flat window surrounds with ears, sills and central keystones. Windows on ground-floor of recess were dropped during alterations in the C18. Central window on 1st floor with pediment on brackets. This, and the central projecting corinthian half-columned porch with panelled double-doors, fan-light and cast-iron balcony over, are late C18 additions. Rear elevation with 3 gables in central recess and rear fene- stration showing some survival of the original cross windows. East elevation of 3 storeys and 6 bays. Irregular fenestration due to unresolved problem of lighting the subsidiary staircase, with 3 windows on 3 levels in 3rd bay from right. Basement door in 3rd bay from left. Panelled, with top pane cut away and glazed. Deep flat hood on brackets. Interior: Original square open-well staircase with stout Ionesian baluster and heavy rail. Pair of figures in putative niches on east and west walls of stair and ceiling painting of open sky with flying putti with garlands. Surrounded by balu- strade, all c.1740 and attributed to Francis Hayman. Front Hall: Adamesque plaster ceiling and chimney-piece, c.1765. Front Bedroom: Adamesque plaster ceiling and chimney-piece, c.1765. Dining Room: C17 oak panelling. Victoria Room: Mid C18 chimney-piece. South-East Bedroom: Rococo papier mache ceiling, c.1740. See Archaeologia Cantiana, XV-XVIII, 1883-1889, for the transcription by Mrs Dalison of the Account Books of James Masters of the years 1646-76. Country Life, June 18th and 25th, 1964, CXXXV, 1580, 1648. Yotes Court is listed Grade I as a very early example of the type of country house that be- came dominant after the Restoration. As a building of importance and quality of the Commonwealth period it has great rarity value. Listing NGR: TQ6501553307