Home Farmhouse

Home Farmhouse is a small house dating back to the early 16th century, with alterations and remodelling in the 17th, 18th, 19th, and late 20th centuries. It is constructed with a timber frame, now rendered and painted, and is covered by a long straw thatch roof with ridge and north gable chimney stacks.

The original plan was that of a three-bay open hall house with a cross passage, later remodelled to create a hall chamber with fixed stair access from the ceiled hall.

The east elevation is single-storey and attic. It has three bays, with a gabled thatched porch added to the south bay, enclosing a doorway opening onto the original cross passage, which has since been altered. To the north of the porch are two large 20th-century multi-pane 2-light casement windows; to the south, a small 6-pane window serves as a bathroom. A dormer window with a 20th-century frame is in the attic storey. A shouldered external stack is located on the north end, with a multi-pane window in the gable apex to the right of the stack. The rear elevation has two 20th-century 2-light casement windows, and a slightly advanced south bay contains a 20th-century door and a small-paned 2-light window.

Inside, the original layout remains visible, with the principal hearth set against the remodelled through passage. The passage is defined by two tie beams. Exposed wall framing, ceiling joists and spine beams are visible at ground floor level, along with a brick-lined hearth incorporating side ovens beneath a former full-width hearth beam. Evidence of a mortise for a supporting post at the east end of the beam is present, now carried on a brick pier. The partition between the former open hall and the parlour at the north end has been removed and replaced with 20th-century bookshelves and reused post and brace timbers. A winder stair, to the left of the hearth and hall doorway, leads to the bedrooms in the attic. Deflected purlins and rafters are visible on the upper floor, which incorporates the upper part of the former smoke hood, now supported by the ground floor brick hearth.

The house was originally believed to have been an open hall with flanking storeyed service and parlour bays. In the 17th century, the hall was floored over, and the original hearth hood was replaced with brickwork, along with rebuilding of the north end wall.

Home Farmhouse is designated as a building of group value due to its status as a well-preserved example of a small 16th-century timber-framed open hall house and the interest in the 17th-century flooring of the hall and insertion of a stack. The survival of the original plan form characteristics, despite later internal modifications, also contributes to its importance.