Lower Clay Pitts

Lower Clay Pits is a house dating from 1625, initialled "RSH 1625/ AH TD". It is constructed of hammer-dressed stone with a stone slate roof. The building originally had a three-room linear plan with a through passage. It consists of a two-storey front and a single-storey aisle to the rear. The corners are emphasised by quoins. The windows are mostly renewed to the ground floor, but retain chamfered mullions. The front elevation features a four-light window above a five-light window; a four-light window above a five-light window; a two-light window with a two-light window above which serves as a fire-window; and a doorway with composite jambs and an inscribed Tudor arched lintel with a chamfered surround extending as spandrels, alongside a two-light window above. A remaining extruded stack is visible on the left-hand return wall, along with a coped gable with kneelers and a replacement stack.

The rear and side elevations are rendered, largely obscuring original detail, though a single chamfered light and a two-light mullioned window survive. The through-passage doorway has monolithic jambs. The right-hand return wall contains a two-light chamfered mullioned window, a three-light flat-faced mullioned window, and a six-light double-chamfered mullioned and transomed stepped window (two over six) to the gable, which is topped with a finial. A doorway with monolithic jambs is present, with quoins indicating a division between an added outshut, likely at the service end. There are three stacks—one to the ridge, backing onto the through passage, and two others.

Inside, the rear through-passage doorway (now part of the aisle) has a basket-arched lintel with a chamfer. The housebody features scarf-jointed spine beams and evidence of a former bressumer, now replaced by a late 17th-century segmental arched fireplace with skewbacks and a cyma moulded surround, with half-lap joints possibly suggesting reused tie beams originating from a cruck-framed house. The parlour contains a spine beam with a heavy curve and half-lap joint, which may have been a reused cruck blade. The aisle to the rear of the housebody has a heavily jowled post with a half-lap joint carrying an arcade plate with two half-lap joints. A king-post truss incorporates single angle struts.