Coxgreen Farmhouse

Coxgreen Farmhouse is a building with a medieval core, significantly extended in the early 17th century and with outer walls rebuilt in the mid-17th century. It retains evidence of its long history. The farmhouse’s original timber frame was largely replaced with red brick in the mid-17th century, though an early 17th-century timber-framed extension remains with brick infill. It has a plain tile roof, a brick lateral stack, and a ridge stack with lozenge-section shafts.

The building is aligned north-east/south-west. The north-east wing, which projects forward, preserves the remains of a medieval service wing. The layout of the cross passage is visible in the hall range to the south-west, and the rear, south-west projecting wing likely represents an early 17th-century extension of the former parlour wing. The front wing is contemporary with the outer wall rebuilding. The main farmhouse is two storeys with a gable-lit attic, and features a three-storey gabled wing to the right of the centre, topped by a corbelled chimney stack with a twisted shaft. The roof of the main house catslides over the north-east wing.

The facade has roughly one-to-two-to-one-to-two bays, displaying cement-rendered brick and chamfered mullioned windows with rebated frames. One first-floor window on the right is blind. A 20th-century door is set within a 17th-century surround with a Tudor-arch, providing access to the former cross passage. The north-east wing retains a corner post rising to the first floor, along with a tension brace and a first-floor bressumer supporting the ends of the first-floor joists; this section was otherwise rebuilt in brick.

A gabled wing to the rear, built in the 17th century, is two storeys high, with close-studding to the ground floor and square panels with straight braces to the first floor, displaying a jettied gable end. It has 20th-century casements set within 19th-century openings.

Inside, a mid-17th-century open-well staircase is characterised by a panelled closed string, turned balusters, heavy newel finials, and perforated pendants. Exposed timber framing on the south-west wall of the north-east wing includes a blocked doorway with a triangular head, formerly leading from the cross passage to the service wing. The surviving medieval bay of the north wing has cross beams with wide chamfers and heavy, flat joists. Early 17th-century doors are present, with moulded and patterned battens. In the south-east bay of the 17th-century timber-framed wing, the ground floor room has a large open fireplace with a massive chamfered bressumer. The first-floor room displays early 17th-century wall panelling. The fireplace opening is flanked by fluted Ionic pilasters and features a carved frieze with two panels displaying the initials ‘C’ linked by a marriage knot.