The Lynches

The Lynches is a farmhouse, likely dating to the mid-17th century, with substantial remodelling around 1735 and rebuilding in the mid to late 19th century. It is constructed of red brick with red sandstone ashlar and grey sandstone dressings, some of which have been cement-rendered, and incorporates a timber-framed core. The building has a hipped plain tile roof and an L-shaped plan, with later additions to the north. It includes a basement, two storeys and an attic.

A chamfered stone plinth is visible on the southern block, and there are external ashlar pilaster strips at the corners. Brick lateral stacks are located on the north east, just off the ridge to the west, and a truncated rubble stone stack from the 17th century remains to the west.

The south front has three bays with altered 18th-century four-pane sash windows, featuring exposed boxes, moulded grey sandstone cills, and roughly gauged heads. The central windows are blocked and rendered, with the ground-floor window likely a former doorway, indicated by straight joints.

The east front's left-hand section has a blocked first-floor window; the right-hand ground floor window retains an altered 18th-century sash with a moulded exposed box and roughly gauged segmental head with a projecting triple keystone, whilst the left-hand window is blocked. The right-hand wing features a central first-floor sash (an altered 18th-century window) and a ground-floor window with a sash (also altered), set within a segmental head with a triple keystone. A door with six flush panels is set to the left, sheltered by a gabled timber porch with lattice-work sides. A single bay return front is on the left. A rear wing, set back to the right, has two first-floor two-light casements and a ground-floor lean-to addition.

The interior's south-facing ground floor room retains an ovolo-moulded cross-beamed ceiling, panelling, and a fireplace with an early 19th-century surround featuring a segmental arch with glazed tiles in the splays, reeded pilaster strips, a frieze, and a moulded cornice, with fielded panelling above. A particularly elaborate 17th-century overmantel is composed of cable-fluted pilasters with carved lower parts and capitals featuring lion masks, a guilloche-ornamented band, three blind round-arched panels with Ionic pilasters and carved figures, a vigorously carved frieze with lions and dragons, and a carved cornice.

The east-facing ground floor room has re-ordered 17th-century panelling, an 18th-century corner cupboard with raised and fielded panelling and shaped shelves, a large fireplace and a 17th-century three-flight square-well staircase with landings, a closed string, splat balusters, and a chamfered newel post. Boarded and panelled doors are found throughout the house, likely dating to the late 17th or early 18th century.

Historically, The Lynches served as the Waring family home, later becoming the residence of the Ashby family in the late 16th, 17th, and early 18th centuries. No features predate the 17th century. A circular dovecote once stood nearby.