De Freville Farmhouse

The house at De Freville Farmhouse, Great Shelford, is a timber-framed building dating from the 15th century, with significant additions and alterations in the 17th and early 20th centuries. It is constructed with roughcast rendering over a timber frame, and has steeply pitched tiled roofs, one half-hipped, with a 17th-century red brick ridge and projecting side stacks. The original layout comprised a hall with a crosswing to the left; a further crosswing was added in the early 17th century, resulting in an H-plan. The front gable of the hall range incorporates the initials of Gonville and Caius College and the date 1907. The front of the hall range features three flush-frame sash windows with sixteen panes, set within open boxing. The main doorway leads to a cross-passage between the hall and the 17th-century crosswing, and has a panelled door with a flat hood supported by shaped brackets.

The left-hand crosswing, dating from the 15th century, has a jetty both to the front and the internal side wall, above the original cross-passage. A plain, unmoulded dragon beam is present on the corner, along with brackets supporting every fourth joist. Horizontal sliding sashes with early 19th-century panelled shutters are at ground-floor level. A timber-framed kitchen addition to the rear of this crosswing dates from the 17th century. The right-hand crosswing is also jettied to the front and has similar window arrangements, with shutters at ground-floor level.

Internally, a 14th-15th century open hall was demolished or removed during the 16th century when the current hall was constructed. Surviving elements include a pair of rafters with soot marks and joints for a crown-post roof, remnants of the 16th-century hall wall showing close studding, and a rebuilt roof, likely dating from 1907. The chimney stack is believed to be contemporary with the 16th-century hall. The hall ceiling features fine roll moulding to the intersecting main beams and the lintel above the inglenook hearth. The left-hand crosswing is from the early 15th century. Part of the original cross-passage remains at the rear of the 16th-century inglenook hearth, with the jetty of the solar projecting over this passage, which is wide and similar to that found at Rectory Farm, Great Shelford. Original partition walls, service doorways, and a sloping floor for drainage are intact. The roof is of clasped, side purlin construction with cambered collars and long straight bracing. The 17th-century crosswing features fragments of early 17th-century square sunken oak panelling with an embattled cornice, while the first floor has a raised tie beam and shutter grooves indicative of original window openings, now sealed. This roof differs from the other crosswing’s roof, which is of wind braced butt purlin construction.