Ansell'S Farmhouse

Ansell's Farmhouse is a house that dates back to the early 16th century, with extensions added in the 19th and 20th centuries. It features a timber frame that is plastered and has a roof made of handmade red clay tiles. The original structure includes a two-bay hall that runs northwest to southeast, with a late 16th-century axial chimney stack located in the southeast bay. To the northwest is a storeyed parlour or solar bay, while the service bay to the southeast has been demolished and replaced by a large block built in the early 19th century, which was further extended to the southwest in 1979. Additional extensions were made to the northwest in 1979 as well.

The southeast elevation displays a dado of red brick from 1979, topped with plaster. It features a two-window range of early 19th-century sash windows, each with 16 lights, some of which contain crown glass. There is a central glazed door from the 20th century, adorned with an early 19th-century pediment supported by scrolled brackets, and above it is a reproduction sash window with 12 lights. The roof is hipped.

Inside the original building, you will find jowled posts and heavy studding, along with an original floor made of lodged plain joists in the northwest bay. The hall has an inserted floor that consists of transverse and axial beams and joists, all of which are chamfered with stops that feature an unusual design. Evidence of an unglazed window can be seen below the half-hip at the northwest end. The crownpost roof has thin axial braces and is not smoke-blackened, suggesting that a timber-framed chimney was originally present before the current brick stack was added. The early 19th-century southwest block retains original folding shutters made of pine on the ground floor. The house was nearly derelict before it was restored in 1979.