The Farmhouse

The Farmhouse

Farmhouse dated 1683 with initials B.M. inscribed on the tie-beam. The building has undergone later additions and alterations. It was originally of mud-and-stud construction on a brick plinth, but was largely cased in red brick during the early to mid-19th century, with the gables built up during the same period. The exterior is colour-washed. The roof is thatched, originally half-hipped, with a small dormer to the second bay. There is a large central brick chimney stack, with a smaller stack added to the west return in the 19th century. A low brick extension to the east has a pantile roof, and a brick extension to the rear of the west bay has a flat felt roof.

The house follows a lobby entry plan. The main house is single storey with attics and comprises 4 bays. There is a part-glazed door with a single 12-pane sash to the right, two sashes to the left, and one in the east gable. A single small-paned casement appears in the dormer, west gable, and in the single-bay extension.

Internally, the present heck is of early brick construction, inserted to support the cut-off south end of the original chamfered bressumer, whose north end was originally lapped over a vertical bay post behind an angled brace. An early brick inglenook has been infilled with a 20th-century stone fireplace, but part of the rear wall (broken through at the north end) is visible in the present bathroom, lit by a small Yorkshire sash which may be an original fire window. The bressumer supports a mud firehood, partly reworked in brick. A stop-chamfered beam rests on the bressumer; its west end is supported on a post built into the original mud-and-stud cross wall, with oak posts carrying wide deal floorboards. Close-lathed ceiling with earth infill is present above.

The original parlour contains a small cast iron fireplace and retains visible mud-and-stud cross walling with horizontal rail, mid-post, and a rear doorway in the north wall. The chamfered beam has been shortened, with its east end resting on a brick cross wall that was inserted when the stair was installed. Later mud-and-stud walling appears to either side at the head of the stair. An inscribed tie-beam stands to the west of the central chimney. The tie-beam to the east of the chimney has clay underpinning, possibly forming storage for drying grain. The east side of the chimney was added with a fireplace to the kitchen below.

The roof was destroyed by fire in January 1991, when the chimney was reduced in height. The building is graded as the earliest surviving dated mud-and-stud building which still retains many original, rare features. It was recorded by the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England in May 1991.