Appletrees

Appletrees is a late 14th-century hall house that has undergone alterations in the 16th and 20th centuries. It is timber framed, plastered, and features a roof made of handmade red clay tiles. The building consists of a 2-bay hall oriented approximately northwest to southeast, with a late 16th-century inserted chimney stack in the southeast bay and storeyed bays at each end. There is an 18th-century external chimney stack at the northwest end. A single-storey extension was added to the southwest in 1978, creating a T-plan layout.

On the northeast elevation, there is a 20th-century door and four 20th-century casement windows, along with three additional windows in swept dormers. The roof is half-hipped at both ends. Inside, the structure features jowled posts, heavy studding, a steeply cranked central tiebeam supported by deep arched braces, and a cross-quadrate crownpost with four-way rising braces, of which three remain. The original roof timbers are heavily smoke-blackened above the hall. The end walls exhibit interrupted tiebeam construction and show evidence of unglazed windows at both levels, with some original diamond mullions still in place. Both wallplates have edge-halved and bridled scarfs.

The floor inserted in the hall during the late 16th century includes a plain-chamfered axial beam and plain-chamfered joists of horizontal section. The building is particularly interesting due to the clear structural break between the storeyed northwest bay and the rest of the structure, suggesting a phased building program from the beginning. Notably, Appletrees is unusual for not having a cross-entry; evidence of doorways on opposite sides indicates that they were not aligned.