Middle Farmhouse

Farmhouse. It probably dates from the late 16th century, with alterations and additions in the 18th and 19th centuries. The farmhouse is built of red brick, partly rendered, with a timber-framed core, and has plain tile roofs. It consists of two bays aligned north-east/south-west, with a projecting two-bay gabled cross-wing to the south-west. The farmhouse is one storey and has an attic. The south-east front has two 19th-century gabled semi-dormers on the right side, with 20th-century two-light wooden casement windows. There is a rendered ridge stack off-centre to the right, and a rendered external end stack in front of the cross-wing to the left. There are two 19th-century ground-floor windows to the right, the one on the right replacing a former door, evident by straight joints. There are 20th-century two-light wooden casement windows to each floor of the left-hand cross-wing, and a segmental-headed boarded door off-centre to the left. A gabled brick addition is located at the rear (north-west), with an external brick end stack. Inside, the central ground-floor room has a deeply-chamfered cross-beamed ceiling with chamfered joists, and a large open fireplace. The fireplace has a large chamfered wooden lintel returning to chamfered dressed sandstone reveals, one of which has a surviving broach stop. Other features include 18th-century doors, an old winder staircase, and much surviving timber framing, including posts, cross walls, and roof trusses with purlins. There is one wind brace with a 17th-century painted black interlacing scrolled design. The farmhouse likely occupies the site of the medieval manor house of Betchcott. It is included for group value, as part of a complete farmstead (including two timber-framed barns), and for its surviving internal features.