Church Farm

Church Farm is a farmhouse dating to the mid-18th century, with a front range added in the early 19th century, and later 19th and 20th century alterations and additions. The building is constructed of red brick, with ashlar and blue brick dressings, and has plain tile roofs.

The front range is two storeys plus attics and two bays wide. It has first and second floor bands, rebated eaves, and gable stacks rebuilt in blue brick in the late 20th century. Windows are later 19th-century plain sashes set in original segment-headed openings. A central wooden doorcase has reeded pilasters and a flat hood over a beaded six-panel door. The attic has flat-headed blank windows. The left gable has a single ground-floor window and a later 19th-century two-light window to the attic. The north gable has a large segment-headed plain sash window and slit breathers to the attic, which continue on the rear elevation.

The rear range is three storeys high and has brick string courses and a coped gable with a rebuilt ridge stack. The south side shows traces of patterning in burnt headers to the right. The fenestration on the south side and west gable is mainly 20th-century in altered flat-headed openings. The north side includes a mid-19th-century single-storey lean-to addition, likely a dairy, with a blocked doorway and 19th and 20th-century casements in its return angle. The remaining north side has scattered fenestration, primarily later 19th-century casements.

The interior of the front range has re-sited and renewed staircases from the mid-20th century. The ground-floor rooms have chamfered spine beams; the beam in the right-hand room is cased with a cornice, cupboard, elliptical arched recesses, and two-panel doors, all circa 1800. The first floor includes a plain spine beam, a hob grate with a reeded pine surround, and a wardrobe in a recess, all from the early 19th century. The second floor has part of a winding staircase from around 1800, with a square newel and stick balusters. The attics have an unusually wide door to the landing, a partition at the midpoint, and gypsum plaster floors. The roof has a single exposed purlin with halved and pegged rafters. Small round arched recesses forming breather slits are present at the north end, with a similar opening visible in the south gable. These areas also have traces of wooden shelf brackets and a freestanding cheese rack.

The rear range has a chamfered spine beam, exposed joists, and a fireplace bressummer on the ground floor, dating back to the mid-18th century. The first floor features plain chamfered beams with run-out stops and five two-panel doors, all from the 18th century. There is also an 18th-century wooden fire surround with a cornice and a cupboard door. The floor levels at the west end were changed in the mid-20th century. The roof is a single purlin construction made of reused timber with a ridge board.

The building’s historical significance lies in the attic cheese room, which is a rare example of a building adapted to the specific needs of a local industry.