Polstead'S Farmhouse

Polstead's Farmhouse is a late 16th-century house located on Fishpits Lane in Bures Hamlet. It features a timber frame that is plastered and has a roof made of handmade red clay tiles. The house has four bays facing southwest and includes an axial chimney stack situated one bay from the right end. There is a 20th-century extension on the left side. The building stands two storeys tall and has a five-window range of 20th-century casements. The entrance door is set within a 15th-century moulded doorcase that has a four-centred arched head, which was brought from The Angel Inn in Kelvedon. On the upper floor of the right return wall, there is an original window with two ovolo mullions, with a 20th-century reproduction window located below it.

Inside, the farmhouse features jowled posts and heavy studding. The right bay has a lodged floor supported by longitudinal plain joists of horizontal section. The middle room contains a transverse beam with plain joists of horizontal section. The wallplate shows a face-halved and bladed scarf joint. The roof is constructed with clasped purlins and retains an original partition made of wattle and daub. This house was previously occupied by Harry Forrester, an author known for works such as 'Timber Framed Houses of Essex' and 'Medieval Gothic Mouldings', who was instrumental in the introduction of the 15th-century doorway.