Park Farmhouse

Farmhouse. Dating from the 16th to 17th centuries, it is a timber-frame building with narrow wattle-and-daub panels set between close-set studs. The right-hand flank wall is cased in brick, and the roofs are tiled. The house comprises three parallel ranges of five framed bays, presenting three gables to the west. A cross-passage runs through the two right-hand ranges from an entrance in the middle of the right flank. The left range is slightly higher and wider than the other two, with asymmetrical tension braces to the corner posts at first and second floor levels. It contains irregularly placed 19th-century metal casements, and towards the rear of the left wall, a first-floor original mullioned and transomed oriel, made of moulded timber, with vertical iron bars between the mullions in eight north-facing lights. The front entrance is behind an early 20th-century brick and timber-gabled extension. The centre and right ranges have matching gables with regularly placed tension braces to the posts and a large external stack of local stone with a detached brick shaft. Regular fenestration includes metal casements in projecting timber windows, with tiled weatherings above each. The front entrance is via a ledged door to the left of the centre bay, and a side entrance through a 19th-century porch to the right centre of the right-hand range. Internally, the centre and right ranges feature close-set chamfered beams in a series of small rooms. The left range appears less internally divided and may predate the other two, which may have replaced an earlier hall set at right angles to the left range. Prominent scotches are visible to several corner posts. The rear gable of the left range has a herringbone pattern of struts. A small, projecting horizontal member to the right of the upper window of the right-hand range may be a perch. The apices of two right-hand gables have carved pendants, similar to those of the left gable. The building served as a country residence and hunting lodge for the Bishops of Hereford.