Butts Farmhouse

Farmhouse. Dating from the 15th century, it was enlarged probably in the early 17th century, with later extensions and alterations. The farmhouse is timber-framed with painted brick infill, brick replacement walling and refacing, and hipped tiled roofs. It has sandstone ashlar chimneys with diagonal brick shafts. It was likely originally a cruck hall house; the present main range comprises two framed bays, with a central hearth inserted, and the bay to the right of the front elevation retained as a hall within a later house. An L-shaped wing of three framed bays was added to the gable end. The left bay has been extended forwards by a single framed bay, with both additions having external stacks on their side elevations. The house is two storeys high, with a dentilled eaves cornice to the brick refacing of the hall. The projecting left bay is slightly jettied on a moulded bressummer and console-brackets and features small, square panels with close-set vertical studding: two panels from sill to jetty and three from jetty to wall-plate. The L-shaped wing has large square panels with straight braces at the corners. The fenestration is irregular. The front elevation of the hall includes a 19th-century ground floor casement with a cambered head, a gabled dormer with a casement, and a planked door with a lean-to porch on timber uprights to the left side. The projecting left bay has paired casements with moulded architraves at ground floor level and a first floor casement. The L-wing features a ground floor window and two first floor casements, along with a ground floor casement in the angle with the main range. Inside, the hall retains one full cruck; the roof is of double, trenched purlins and swept wind-braces. Elsewhere, the roof has queen strut trusses and single, trenched purlins. An inserted floor is present in the hall. The projecting left bay features moulded plasterwork at ceiling edges on both floors. Main beams are stop-chamfered with run-out stops. A 19th-century outshut is located at the rear, set in the angle of the L-wing, and a 20th-century two-storey extension is attached to the left gable end.