Church Farmhouse

Church Farmhouse is a former school and farmhouse, now a house, dating from around 1800, with an altered late 17th-century rear wing. The building is constructed of brick, part roughcast on a rubble plinth, with ashlar dressings on the rear wing. It has a concrete tile roof and brick end stacks, forming a T-plan.

The exterior features three storeys and a symmetrical three-window range. The front range includes a doorcase with reeded pilasters and slender consoles supporting an open pediment, along with an overlight that has decorative glazing bars. The entrance door has four glazed panels and two flush panels. The windows have tile sills, with 8/8 sashes on the ground floor, 6/6 sashes on the first floor, and 3/3 sashes on the second floor. There is a small single-storey addition on the right end. The left return of the rear wing displays ashlar quoins and a cornice, with an entrance on the right end featuring an ashlar doorcase with a simple architrave, pulvinated frieze, and cornice, and a door similar to the front. A large c1900 canted bay window with a hipped roof is above casements, and the first floor has two c1900 casement windows and a small window above the entrance. The gable end is coped and includes an entrance and two small attic windows, along with an end stack. The right return has a lean-to outshut.

Inside, the front range has chamfered beams, some of which end over the windows, and moulded architraves for the windows and doors. There is a dog-leg stair with a moulded handrail and square newels, flagged floors, and a large fireplace with a re-used moulded bressumer. The rear wing features rough beams and a 20th-century fireplace that may cover a larger earlier fireplace. The first floor has a partly visible truss with straight cruck spurs and struts.

Historically, the school was founded by John Cooper and was flourishing by 1656, known as the Grammar School, and it was sold in 1919. Ursula Bloom, a novelist and playwright, lived here at one time.