The Ford

The Ford

A house with potential late 17th-century origins and 19th-century additions.

The building is constructed of uncoursed sandstone rubble walls with brick dressing, with a brick extension and clay tile roofs. The plan comprises two wings: the longer orientated east to west and the shorter running north to south from the east end of the longer wing, creating an L-shaped plan. An extension wraps around the north-west corner of the house. Ruined outbuildings are attached to the north and east, but these additions and the extension are excluded from the listing.

The house stands two storeys high beneath an L-shaped pitched roof with gable ends to the south and west. The wrap-around extension to the north-west corner is single-storey, with its northern roof slope forming a catslide extension from the main roof and its western side leaning into the first-floor wall of the west elevation. Three brick chimney stacks serve the house: one rising through the ridge at the centre of the west gable, another in the south gable, and a third at the centre of the north elevation rising from a much wider stone breast projecting from the wall. These brick stacks appear to be later insertions into the stone house.

Windows are either double or triple iron casements on pintles with horizontal saddle-bars. Although of an early style, they may well be replacements contemporary with the brick additions to the house, as the ground floor windows are set beneath segmental brick arches. A brick dentil course has been applied at eaves level to the front elevation only, broken by the first-floor windows which sit just below the eaves.

The front elevation faces south. The longer wing houses a central plank front door flanked by a pair of windows, the living room window to the right (east) being higher than the kitchen window to the left (west). At first floor are a double window to the left and a triple window to the right. The south elevation of the shorter wing is solid but shows the inserted brick chimney and part of the late 20th-century extension. The east elevation is solid except for a window into the dairy at ground floor in its north end and the attached ruined remains of a stone outbuilding at the south.

The north elevation is dominated by the projecting stone chimney breast at its centre. To its left (east) at ground floor level are the ruined remains of an attached stone pigsty with a window at first floor level above. To the right (west) of the chimney is the late 20th-century extension with a catslide roof that projects as a hip to the west.

The west elevation shows the gable end of the longer wing with the 20th-century extension covering its north side, the brick chimney rising centrally, and a lean-to roof covering a low bread oven to the south. The projection of the shorter wing extends beyond, with a parlour window at ground floor and a bedroom window above.

Internally, all doors are made from planks, some within moulded doorframes. There are no other mouldings except for a plain, low skirting board in the central living room. Upstairs, wide wooden floorboards visibly nailed to the joists are exposed except in one bedroom which has more modern, narrow shiplap pine boards.

The front door opens from the south into the main living room, whose ceiling has a chamfered spine beam holding exposed ceiling joists. Dominating the north wall of the central living room is a large fireplace partly brick-infilled and housing a cast iron range at the centre with a built-in brick oven to the right. Four internal doors lead off from the central room: in the east wall a door to the dairy, south of this a door to narrow winder stairs up, at the south wall's east end a door to the parlour, and west of the front door a door to the kitchen in the west wall. To the right at the foot of the stairs is a small door to stairs descending to a cellar room beneath the parlour. The kitchen has an old cast iron range against the west gable chimney, with a brick arch in the wall over a hatch to the bread oven to its left. Upstairs are three bedrooms off a landing to the stairs.

Fireplaces have 19th-century grates and surrounds, except for the parlour fireplace which has a 20th-century tiled surround.