The Ancient House

The Ancient House is a hall house dating from the 15th century, with alterations made in the 16th and 20th centuries. It features a timber frame, is plastered, and has a roof made of handmade red clay tiles. The building has a two-bay hall oriented approximately north-south, with a west-facing aspect, an integral service bay to the south, and a three-bay crosswing to the north that jetties out to the west. There is a late 16th-century axial chimney stack in the north bay of the hall, an early 17th-century external stack on the north side of the crosswing, and a 19th/20th-century external stack at the south end.

The crosswing is two storeys high, while the remainder of the building is one storey with attics. There are single-storey extensions to the north and east of the crosswing. The house has a 20th-century door and five 20th-century metal casement windows. Below the jetty, there are four plain brackets and exposed joists. On the first floor, there is one 20th-century metal casement window and another in a gabled dormer. The central and north chimney stacks have grouped diagonal shafts, which were rebuilt in the 19th or 20th century.

Inside, the house features jowled posts, heavy studding, and cambered tiebeams. The crosswing includes a plain-chamfered binding beam with broach stops and plain joists of horizontal section. A large blocked unglazed window is present in the east wall of the hall, divided by a late 16th-century inserted floor on pegged clamps, with all joists being plain-chamfered with lamb's tongue stops. The wallplates show edge-halved and bridled scarfs, and the original crownpost roof is largely intact, although the central crownpost and collar-purlin are missing. The upper studs at the south end of the hall retain original wattle and daub infill, which is heavily smoke-blackened.

The crosswing has a plain crownpost with curved braces to the collar-purlin, and the roof above has been rebuilt in softwood. There are two 16th-century moulded doors in the crosswing; one is at the entrance to the parlour and is possibly in its original position, while the other has been repositioned on the first floor. Additionally, a section of 16th-century panelling has been reused as a door on the ground floor.