Churchyard Farmhouse, formerly listed as Church Farm House

Churchyard Farmhouse, formerly listed as Church Farm House

A timber-framed house on a stone base, originating in the late 16th or early 17th century, with substantial alterations and extensions carried out in the 17th, 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries.

The building is constructed of timber framing with an external stone chimney. The original wattle and daub infill has been largely replaced in brick. The south-east, south-west, and part of the north-east elevations have been rebuilt in rubble stone with some brick in the south-west elevation. A brick chimney was added later. The roofs are covered with handmade clay tiles. A modern stone link to the granary was built to the south.

The plan is irregular and nearly square, with a projecting chimney to the north-east and an L-plan lean-to link to the granary to the south. The original plan consisted of an L-shaped arrangement with a short hall aligned south-west to north-east and a longer cross wing projecting to the south-east and flush with the hall to the north-west. A kitchen extension was later built in the angle between these two elements, creating the current footprint.

The timber-framed north-west elevation was originally the principal elevation, with separate entrances to both the hall and cross wing. Both doorways survive, though the cross wing door has been partly replaced, the hall door is lost, and the cross wing entrance has been replaced. Two modern cellar windows occupy older openings. Ground-floor timber framing is exposed but most of the first floor is rendered. The timber-framing of the cross wing's ground-floor elevation is modern, but original timbers survive on the hall side, including part of an original window with ovolo moulding. A similar but smaller first-floor window is visible nearly directly above. Later windows occupy the remaining openings. The jetty bressumer and the principal rafter of the cross wing gable are decorated with double-ovolo-and-quirk mouldings.

The north-east elevation includes a timber-framed section north of the stone chimneystack, which continues the moulded jetty. The ground floor has been rebuilt but an original first-floor window with diamond mullions survives. The large chimneystack is of rubble stone with Victorian brick chimneys. An integral garderobe is slightly corbelled out at first-floor level, roofed under a small catslide. The wall to the south of the chimneystack and the entire south-east elevation of the cross wing have been rebuilt in coursed rubble stone. That elevation has sash windows on both floors, an external door with a fanlight, and a later tiled porch roof. The kitchen extension, also of rubble stone, projects slightly beside the door and was later raised using coursed rubble stone. It has two ground-floor casement windows with segmental heads; the stack does not project externally.

The south-west elevation of the hall has been rebuilt in rubble stone and brick, rendered at attic level. The current kitchen entrance and the first-floor casement window directly above are recent. At ground floor the south-west elevation of the kitchen is hidden behind the late 20th-century lean-to link to the granary. A large 20th-century window stands beside the entrance door, with a later dormer containing a casement window on the floor above.

Internally, two cellar rooms with separate stairs are located beneath the north-west range, lit by north-west-facing windows. The floor structure above both spaces has been rebuilt.

The ground floor contains four principal rooms, with the main stair at the centre of the north-west range. Most doors on this floor are six-panelled. The west room in the former hall wing has been remodelled with 18th-century dado rail, cornice, and encased ceiling beams. The north room in the cross wing retains exposed timber framing on external walls, though this is a modern replica. Georgian remodelling is evident in two reeded timber arches on fluted pilasters leading to the stairwell and lobby, with the ceiling beam bearing scrolled chamfer stops. The cross wing's south room has a large stone and brick fireplace with a plain bressumer. Its two main ceiling beams have scrolled chamfer stops. The kitchen contains a large brick fireplace with bressumer. The enclosure to the south cellar stair features a plank-and-batten door with strap hinges.

The first-floor plan largely mirrors the ground floor but with more subdivisions. The hall range room has a brick fireplace. Several doors in the cross wing are of plank-and-batten construction with strap hinges. The cross wing's north room contains remains of late 16th- or early 17th-century wall paintings featuring white guilloche and foliate patterns with black outlines on a red background, executed in the design known as Shropshire scroll. This room gives access to the small garderobe space. A small room to the west may have been an early attic stair enclosure. The south room's fireplace is boarded up. The spaces above the kitchen contain two modern bathrooms and a corridor with a reset beam in the position of the hall's original wallplate. The staircase landing displays a ritual burn mark on a timber post and marks indicating the position of the former attic stair.

The three-bay cross wing roof is a principal-raftered tie-beam design with queen posts and raking struts. The hall roof has been altered by removal of collar beams but now carries similar trusses to those of the cross wing. Smoke blackening visible on the hall roof may relate to an original smoke bay.

The granary is a small, two-storey stone building with a tiled gabled roof. The 1912 sales particulars confirm it originally comprised a first-floor granary over a coach house and saddle room, a common arrangement. Originally freestanding, it is now linked to the farmhouse by an enclosed L-plan walkway built around 1993. An external stone stair at the south-west leads to the upper-floor granary, which was not inspected. The low-ceiled ground-floor spaces are accessed from the north-west side facing the enclosed link. The granary is thought to date from around 1800, sharing stylistic similarities with alterations to the house dated to the late 18th or early 19th century.