Church Farmhouse

Church Farmhouse is a house, now divided into two dwellings, dating to around 1400, with alterations in the 17th and 20th centuries. It is timber-framed, with plastered walls and a roof covered in handmade red plain tiles. The original building comprised a two-bay hall range facing northwest, featuring an internal stack from approximately 1600 in the left bay. A three-bay crosswing was added to the left, with a 19th-century internal stack at the rear and a 20th-century external stack to the left. A further three-bay crosswing, circa 1600, was added to the right end of the hall range, with a 17th-century central stack. Both crosswings project forwards, the right crosswing extending further than the left. 18th-century extensions are situated to the left of the right crosswing, forming twin gables facing left. The northwest elevation has scattered 20th-century casement windows and a 20th-century door within a quadrant porch. The southwest elevation displays a two-window range of 20th-century casements with rectangular leading, and a half-glazed door within a circa 1800 doorcase featuring wooden half-columns and a frieze with triglyphs. A similar door and doorcase, the frieze missing or covered, is located at the rear. The left crosswing has an underbuilt jetty to the front, and in the front bay, heavy, plain joists of near-square section are exposed, although elsewhere in this wing, and at this side of the hall range, the timber frame is mainly covered by plaster. The hall range was raised approximately one meter in the 17th century. In the right bay, a large wood-burning hearth is present, of which the rear part has been removed, alongside an inserted floor from around 1600. This floor contains a chamfered axial beam with "lamb's tongue" stops and plain joists of vertical section. Within the right crosswing, wide curved tension braces are trenched inside heavy studding. Jowled posts are also present. On the ground floor, two wood-burning hearths are found, both with internal splays; the front hearth has an ovolo-moulded mantel beam, while the rear hearth features a chamfered mantel beam with "lamb's tongue" and bar stops, alongside minor repairs to brickwork. A medieval timber has been re-used as a floor beam, and the floor has been raised to compensate for subsidence of the right wall. On the first floor, a circa 1800 cast iron grate faces forwards, however, it is incomplete.