Rayners Farmhouse

Rayners Farmhouse is a Grade II* listed farmhouse located on North Road in Whittlesford. It dates from the late 15th century or early 16th century, with modifications and additions made in the late 16th, 18th, and 19th centuries. The building is timber-framed and plastered, topped with plain tiled roofs. A notable feature is the late 16th century square red brick ridge stack, which has grouped shafts on the left side and a gable end stack with two diagonal shafts on the right.

The farmhouse stands two storeys high with an attic and a semi-basement. Originally, it was a five-bay long jetty building, which was altered in the late 16th century to include a cross wing on the left side, featuring a two-storey porch and lobby entry. The jetty is supported by curved brackets at each of the three bays, and there is a large 15th-century roll-moulded mullioned and transomed oriel window to the right of a six-panelled door. The first floor has a 15th-century oriel window with brackets and a cill, which may be replacements of an original moulded cill. The porch has a boarded door with a sealed window above it and in the gable of the cross wing.

Inside, the farmhouse features 15th-century hollow-chamfered cross beams and cambered tie beams, along with a deeply chamfered crown post that is braced to the collar purlin and collar. There are late 16th-century inserted doorways, an attic floor with a wave-moulded ceiling beam, and clunch fireplaces with four-centred arches that have been partly sealed by inserted 19th-century hearths. Additionally, there is early 17th-century panelling in the ground floor room.