Lower House

Lower House is a farmhouse, now a house, dating back to the 14th or 15th century, with significant alterations in the 19th century and during the 20th century. The building is constructed from uncoursed limestone rubble on the right side, and red engineering brick on the left, likely replacing an earlier timber frame. It has a slate roof. Originally a cruck-framed open-hall house, it was floored over in the early 17th century and subsequently modified extensively. The building is two storeys high. Late 20th-century casement windows are found throughout, with four directly below the eaves and three on the ground floor; the right side retains a 19th-century segmental-headed window. The entrance is through a late 20th-century glazed door within a 19th-century doorcase featuring a leaded rectangular overlight and a flat bracketed hood positioned between the second and third windows from the left. An external rubble end stack with a red brick shaft is located on the right side, and a red brick ridge stack is immediately to the left of the entrance, with an infilled doorway directly to its left. Another infilled doorway is present in the corresponding position on the back wall. Inside, the left-hand ground-floor room has chamfered cross beams with flat, heavy joists. The centre room has deep-chamfered cross beams and chamfered joists. A wide chimney breast is located to the right of the ridge stack, containing an infilled inglenook fireplace. One original cruck truss is visible between the left and centre rooms on the ground floor, and the tie beam is exposed on the first floor. An apex survives in the roof space, likely of an Alcock-type A or B design, although it was largely obscured by plaster during a resurvey in July 1986.