Ringers Farmhouse

Ringers Farmhouse is a timber-framed house of exceptional architectural and historical interest, dating in its present form to the early 16th century, though incorporating material from a building of late 13th-century origin that was relocated and reconstructed at this site.

The house comprises a 2-bay hall facing south, with an early 16th-century 2-bay crosswing to the left and a 16th-century 2-bay crosswing to the right. It stands two storeys high, with plastered timber framing beneath a roof of handmade red clay tiles. The front elevation displays a 3-window range of 20th-century casements and features a 19th/20th-century boarded door with a 2-centred head, set in the original doorway. This doorway preserves its moulded jambs and 2-centred arch within a moulded straight head, with spandrels carved with quatrefoils set in circles—evidence of considerable early status. The left crosswing projects forward (jetties), supported on 2 exposed plain brackets. Both chimneys display grouped diagonal shafts, though these were substantially rebuilt in the 19th and 20th centuries.

The hall interior reveals late 13th-century framing practice with unjowled posts and close studding. Deep transomed unglazed windows remain on each side, alongside a wide rear doorway with chamfered jambs and 4-centred arch. The roof structure is a crownpost system of exceptional quality: two cranked tiebeams, moulded below in 3 concave facets and, on the right tiebeam, with quadrant mouldings as well. The right tiebeam carries 2 arched braces; the left has one surviving arched brace (of an original 2). Mortices for former spandrel struts remain visible in the right truss. The crownposts are short and octagonal with moulded caps and square-section axial braces, heavily smoke-blackened and notably lacking bases. Each rafter retains 2 mortices for former scissor-braces, and collars show 2 inclined trenches, though irregular positioning indicates the rafters were re-set after the scissor-braces were removed.

An early 16th-century inserted stack in the right bay of the hall, featuring blind arcading, was demolished in November 1984; a replica was under construction at the time of re-survey. An early 16th-century floor inserted in the hall was removed simultaneously.

The right-hand truss of the hall contains posts with hollow moulding and long mortices now filled with oak plugs. The left crosswing occupies the position of what was formerly a 'nigh end' bay of the original hall, likely as extensive as or longer than the present long bay. Its crownpost mortice indicates the roof formerly continued in the same manner. This crosswing, built in the early 16th century, displays jowled posts with close studding trenched to the exterior, and edge-halved and bridled scarfs in the wallplates. Large peg-holes on the right side mark fixings for a former 'high end' bench, confirming the hall was shortened when the crosswing was constructed. A chamfered binding beam and plain horizontal-section joists span the ground floor, with diamond mortices and shutter grooves for unglazed windows facing the front. The rear wall carries an external stack of English bond construction with hearths at both floors. The substantial ground floor hearth retains chamfered jambs and a depressed arch with original plaster, though the arch crown is damaged, exposing a plain lintel above. The first floor hearth is smaller and well-preserved, fitted with a late 18th-century cast iron ducknest grate. The crosswing roof employs crownpost construction with a cambered tiebeam, plain crownpost, and axial bracing.

The right crosswing was entirely plastered at the February 1985 survey, concealing most frame evidence except a collar-rafter roof formed of re-used, smoke-blackened rafters.

The building's history is complex and remarkable. Discrepancies throughout the structure indicate that whilst it was erected in its present form in the early 16th century and little altered thereafter, it originated as a building of different form at another location over 200 years prior. The hall has been substantially reduced in length, span, and height; both tiebeams were re-erected in reversed positions; crownposts were shortened, resulting in capitals but no bases; and mortices and trenches for scissor-braces are now misaligned. The scale and exceptional quality of ornament—particularly the front doorway—far exceed what would be expected of a minor medieval manor house. Evidence strongly suggests this was originally the palace of the Bishop of Norwich, situated south of Terling parish church. This structure was demolished in the early Tudor period and replaced by a large mansion (shown on the Walker map of 1597), which itself was superseded in 1772 by the present Terling Place. The early 13th-century frame removed from the bishop's palace site in the early 16th century was re-erected in reduced form at Ringers, retaining the prestigious front doorway but introducing a new 4-centred rear doorway. Scissor-braces and spandrel-struts were removed and not replaced. The trusses were reversed so that the most elaborately moulded tiebeam, originally spanning the hall's centre, became a 'low-end' spere truss element. The tiebeams were shortened and re-jointed, with braces repositioned higher in the posts, leaving the filled mortices noted above. The absence of jowls on the hall posts indicates they were reduced in height. Rafters from the former 'high end' bay were reused in the service crosswing roof. The parlour/solar crosswing to the right was newly constructed at the time of removal and reconstruction.