Astwood Farmhouse

Astwood Farmhouse is a 17th-century farmhouse, with alterations dating to the mid-19th century and mid-20th century. It is timber-framed with painted brick infill and has machine-tiled roofs. The building follows an H-plan, comprising a three-bay section aligned east to west; the central bay contains a large chimney with a brick ridge stack, creating a lobby-entry arrangement. Two intersecting cross-wings, each of two bays, are set into the gable ends. The farmhouse is partially two storeys high, with a single-storey section and an attic containing dormers. The timber framing features three and four panels from sill to wall-plate, along with short straight braces in some upper corners. Inside, the structure includes collar and tie-beam trusses with struts and V-struts at the apex. The north elevation presents a hipped-roofed bay window addition to the left, two gabled dormers with 3-light casements, and a central entrance with a gabled canopy supported by brackets, now featuring a 20th-century door. A service wing gable end displays two ground floor 3-light casements and an attic light. The gable end of the upper west cross-wing has a 2-light ground floor casement and a 3-light first floor casement. Interior features include back-to-back fireplaces, and the space south of the chimney is believed to have once served as a priests hole. Local tradition suggests the house was previously owned by a prominent Roman Catholic family with possible links to the Gunpowder Plot conspirators.