Palmers Farmhouse

Palmer's Farmhouse is a late 16th-century farmhouse whose earliest surviving part is a herringbone timber-framed cross-wing dating to around 1569, originally comprising two bays but with the rear bay removed around 1700.

The main range consists of a two-bay hall of 1580, aligned roughly east-west and built with close-studded timber framing to the front and square timber panels to the rear, standing on high stone plinths. The hall was originally open to the roof but was floored over and fitted with a chimney when a single-bay kitchen was added on the same alignment in 1581, creating a continuous range. Both hall and kitchen have gable walls of roughly coursed lias rubble, though this is exposed only on the kitchen. The framing is not infilled against these gable walls. The roof is laid with plain tiles. A lean-to at the rear of the hall range was extended across the demolished bay of the cross-wing during the 18th century.

The roadside front elevation of the hall and kitchen range displays heavy close-studding with mid-rail and straight braces from wall-posts to wall-plate. A plain rendered area at the centre marks the original gable end of the hall, above which stands a prominent red brick ridge stack. The hall elevation includes three leaded mullioned windows on the ground floor and two gabled eaves dormers with leaded mullioned windows, one serving each bay. The kitchen bay features a nail-studded plank door to the far right, two leaded mullioned windows on the ground floor, two gabled eaves dormers with leaded mullioned windows, and a prominent integral brick end stack to the gable with a bread oven projection. The cross-wing to the right displays a herringbone-patterned gable flush with the hall range, with a large leaded mullioned window and nail-studded plank door on the ground floor, and a centrally placed leaded mullioned window on the first floor positioned directly beneath the tie beam. The return of the cross-wing is square panelled with a three-light leaded mullioned window left of centre on the ground floor. Clear signs of truncation are visible on the rear gable, which has a three-light leaded mullioned window directly above the tie beam. The rear elevation of the main range is square panelled except for a small area of close studding directly above the entrance, which sits to the right of the ridge stack and aligns with the front entrance to form a cross-passage. Small leaded mullioned windows on the ground floor include two grouped to the right of the door and one to the left; a further leaded mullioned window sits directly below the eaves to the left of the door. A timber-framed catslide lean-to to the left is square panelled with red brick infill and overlaps the rear gable of the cross-wing.

The ground floor of the hall range is a large room with a chamfered spine beam and joists, a large inglenook fireplace with timber lintel, and a stone flag floor; a 20th-century oak staircase rises to the first floor. Much of the timber frame in the cross-wing is 20th-century reinstatement. The lean-to at the rear is stepped down and contains a stone sink. The first floor features wide floor boards and a trenched-purlin queen-post roof lightly sooted over the hall; an internal window looks from the cross-wing into the hall.

The building has traditionally been identified as the childhood home of Mary Arden, mother of William Shakespeare, an association first made by the local antiquary John Jordan in 1794. Recent research has shown that it was in fact built and occupied by Adam Palmer, a prosperous yeoman who died in 1584.