56, Village Road, Clifton

This is a 14th-century open hall farmhouse, with significant alterations and additions spanning the 16th, 17th, and 19th centuries. Originally dated 1319, the house was floored and a cross wing was added around 1600. A west bay was incorporated in the 17th century and rebuilt in brick during the mid-19th century. The exterior was re-cased in brick in 1707 for Thomas and Joan Lambert. The construction is a combination of timber framing and brick cladding, topped with a thatched roof that is gabled and hipped, with brick stacks on the gable, ridge, and side walls.

The external appearance features a central hall, originally two bays oriented east-west. A cross passage and service bay are located to the west, with an additional bay beyond. A gabled cross wing, two stories high, extends to the east. The central door is flanked by sliding sash windows on each floor, the upper right one under a through-eaves dormer. To the right is the cross wing, displaying a first-floor band and a coped gable. A first-floor sliding sash window has a label mould above which are burnt header bricks inscribed “L T J 1707.” A 19th-century casement window is positioned below. The rear of the house features a door in a reduced opening, alongside various casements and sliding sashes.

The interior retains much of the original 14th-century timber framing. It features an aisled hall, two bays wide, with a central, wider truss supported by base crucks. Arch braces are present. A hall fireplace is backed onto the cross passage and has an altered bressumer. Framed partition walls are found east of the hall and west of the cross passage. A stop-chamfered span beam dating to the 17th century is in the service bay. A 16th-century winder stair leads to the attic above the two west bays. A central, windowless bay houses a mud and stud smoke hood and substantial remains of a collar purlin roof. The cross wing retains most of its 16th-century box framing, including a central pair of jowled posts and arch braces. A central stud partition is on the first floor. A 18th-century vaulted brick cellar is present, accessed via a plank door. A 19th-century stair is also part of the layout.

Original fittings include an early 18th-century cupboard with shaped shelves and an early 19th-century fitted cupboard and drawers within the cross wing. The west bay contains a mid-19th-century kitchen range, a bread oven, a copper, and a stone cheese press.

This building is considered to be of outstanding interest and importance. It represents a rare survival of a timber-framed hall, particularly complete in its original form. Its unique framing, combining aisle posts and base crucks, along with substantial roof remains, are noteworthy. The building exemplifies the evolution of domestic accommodation through the insertion of a floor, smoke hood, and a storied cross wing, followed by brick casing, which is notably datable and attributable to Thomas and Joan Lambert.