Description

TQ 53 37 SPELDHURST GROOMBRIDGE HILL (off east
side), OLD GROOMBRIDGE
16/505 Groombridge Place moat, walls
and bridge including the west
20.10.54 gateway and cottage on the
north bridge
GV I

Moat walls, bridges, west gateway and north bridge cottage.

The moat walls. Medieval origins, renovated and probably much rebuilt circa
1660 when Groombridge Place (q.v.) was rebuilt. English bond brick on coursed
sandstone blocks. Walls rise a short distance as a parapet and have weathered
sandstone coping.

West Bridge and Gateway. Circa 1660. Bridge is red brick with sandstone
ashlar voussoirs and parapet. Sandstone ashlar gate piers. This is the main
entrance across the moat. Single span bridge with a segmental arch. Ashlar
parapet walls broken by a series of piers giving a panelled effect.
Projecting coping. Gate piers on inside (eastern) end. Tall square section
piers with soffit-moulded caps and pineapple vase finials. Double gates are
probably original; timber frame with iron spear headed rails. Small
attachments onto the bridge containing niche-like seats.

East Bridge. Circa 1660. Sandstone ashlar bridge giving access across the moat to the service courtyard. Single span elliptical arch. Plain parapet
with weathered coping rising in a ramp from the outer retaining wall.

North Bridge and Cottage. Second half of C17. Red brick bridge of 3 uneven
arches. The cottage of English bond red brick with similar stack and
chimneyshaft and peg-tile roof is built over the inner (southern) 2 arches.
The bridge outer elliptical arch is the widest. The other 2 are low pitch
pointed arches. The centre one is the smallest and is blind; appears only on
the west side.

2-room cottage on the eastern side of the bridge. Outer room is parallel to
the bridge with an outer lateral stack and inner room has gabled crossroof.
It is 2 storeys. Doorway roughly central and into outer room. It has a stone
lintel and contains plain plank door (another door in southern end). Single
window to first floor right in gable of crossroof and one each floor in left
(north) gable end; original 2-light windows with ovolo-moulded mullions and
containing diamond panes of old leaded glass. Interior has plain carpentry
detail.

These features play a pivotal role in the setting of Groombridge Place (q.v.).

Listing NGR: TQ5322837626

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q96179713

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Harrow on the Hill: A photographic portrayal of listed buildings and structures (Historic Buildings Picture Guides)
• 
  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  County Durham (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England) by Elizabeth Williamson Nikolaus Pevsner(1983-03-11)