Farmhouse at Quince Hall Farm

Farmhouse at Quince Hall Farm

A timber-framed farmhouse, likely built around the mid-18th century. The building is constructed with lath and plaster infill covered in white render, handmade red brick chimney stacks, and a roof of red plain clay tiles. The south-facing, two-storey farmhouse is positioned to the east of the farm buildings and has a rectangular plan incorporating a mid-20th-century outshot on the north side that incorporates an earlier projection.

The farmhouse follows a three-bay lobby entry plan with a steeply pitched roof and exposed rafter feet at the eaves. Wall plates project slightly on the gable ends. A square chimney stack with brick base and cornice rises through the south roof slope, positioned slightly to the left of the front door. The chimney projecting from the east gable end features offsets and diaper work in vitrified brick. Both chimneys are topped with circular chimney pots.

The front door sits between the first and second bays beneath a moulded wooden canopy supported by shaped brackets. The double-leaf door has six fielded and raised panels, with the upper two glazed with bull's-eye glass. The bays are lit on both floors by 20th-century eight-pane timber casements used throughout the building. The rear north elevation has a rendered outshot with a corrugated asbestos roof, lit by a horizontal four-light metal-framed window on the left and a timber casement on the right, with a 20th-century door in the right return. The first floor is lit by casements in the first and second bays. The east gable end has a ground-floor casement window positioned to the right of the chimney projection. The west gable end has casements on each floor, and a small area where the render has been removed reveals the sole plate, studs, and lath and plaster beneath.

The interior comprises an entrance lobby from which back-to-back fireplaces heat the first and central bays, though the openings may have been reduced from their original size. Timber studs are visible on the north side of the chimney breast beneath wallpaper. The stair, positioned behind the chimney breast, features a quarter turn with winders. In the central and east bays, chamfered tie beams and joists are exposed, though some joists have been replaced. The ground-floor party wall between these two bays has been removed to create an open-plan room, with the substantial tie beam and a combination of new and reused timber studs on a new brick plinth marking the former division. The red brick fireplace in the east gable end appears to have been reconstructed, incorporating what may be the original timber bressumer above the arched opening and a modern tiled hearth. The west bay, probably originally containing the kitchen and services, has a plank and batten door with strap hinges leading into the lobby. In the outshot, a door with four moulded-edge panels of probable late-19th or early-20th-century date opens from the earlier projection shown on the 1880 Ordnance Survey map, flanked by mid-20th-century bathroom and larder spaces.

The first floor retains wide floorboards and several 18th and 19th-century four-panel doors. The west room has a plank and batten door with latch and strap hinges hung on pintles of 18th-century date, and the central room has a six-panel cupboard door also dating from the 18th century. Although roof access was not possible, limited areas of roof structure visible through ceiling holes in the east and west bays show tie beams and rough-cut rafters with bark still in place. The west bay contains a replaced purlin and some replaced rafters.