A structural survey was undertaken by Richard Shackle during renovations in 1987. The Grove looks like a classical Georgian style house with sash windows, but the building conceals within it a historic timber frame of a four-bay building. Little remains of the ground floor because the jetty was underbuilt; that is, the lower jetty beam and wall were moved outwards, so the rooms could be widened to the same width as the rooms above. The upper floor is much more complete. The roof is a plain crown post roof with braces to the collar purlins. The building, which is well built with substantial timbers and good mouldings, is very similar to that of the Red Lion, Colchester, which is thought to date from about 1470-1520 AD.<1>