Little Hyde Farmhouse

Little Hyde Farmhouse

A house of medieval origin, altered and extended in the early 18th century, 19th century, and 20th century. The building is timber-framed and constructed in red and black brick in Flemish bond, roofed with handmade red clay tiles. It comprises a single north-facing range of two storeys with a cellar, arranged in multiple sections.

The medieval core consists of two bays: the high end bay of the hall and the adjoining parlour or solar bay to the right. An early 18th-century axial stack sits at the junction of these bays. To the left is an early 18th-century rebuild on the site of the low end bay of the hall, now forming an entrance stair and hall. A late 19th-century cross-wing extends to the left, with an internal stack at its left end. A single-storey lean-to extension, dated 1924, extends further left, and a late 20th-century lean-to extension to the rear completes a rectangular plan.

A 19th-century extension occupies the right side of the main range, with an internal stack against its rear wall. In front of this sits a 20th-century single-storey wing serving as a farm office.

The front elevation displays two 19th-century casements with segmental brick arches on the ground floor and three casement windows on the first floor without arches, with other windows being 20th-century casements. A 20th-century half-glazed door is set in a 20th-century doorcase with pediment. The early 18th-century brickwork features black headers in a regular pattern from the cross-wing to a straight joint aligned with the axial stack. The inscription 'SV 1736' is scratched into two adjacent bricks approximately 1.50 metres above ground, likely indicating the construction date of this wall. To the right lies another section of 18th-century brickwork extending to the 19th-century extension, with some black bricks beneath the ground-floor window but predominantly red brick. A raised band of three courses of brick appears at first-floor level in both sections. The elevation is finished with a moulded wooden eaves cornice.

The rear elevation features two 18th-century 3-light casements with rectangular leading in the outer fixed lights on the first floor, with central casements replaced, each with a flat arch of brick on edge. One retains the original twisted wrought-iron stay bar. Other windows are 19th and 20th-century casements. The rear brickwork matches the front but with less consistent black headers, indicating the best bricks were reserved for the front elevation. There is no joint between the two 19th-century extensions.

The interior is largely plastered. To the left of the axial stack is a transverse beam that is partly chamfered, and a chamfered axial beam extended by about one metre at its left end, probably indicating the removal of a 16th-century inserted stack in the low end bay of the hall. Above the first floor are transverse beams at each end of this bay and an axial beam.

The roof retains the principal evidence of the medieval structure. The left bay, measuring 3.66 metres long by 5.03 metres span internally, contains most of the original rafters and collars in place, heavily smoke-blackened, except for an early 17th-century dormer to the rear, later removed. To its left is a cambered tie-beam with a mortice for a crownpost, forming part of the open truss between the bays of a two-bay hall. The roof of the low end bay was rebuilt during the removal of a 16th-century stack and the formation of the present entrance and stair hall. The parlour or solar bay to the right, 3.50 metres long internally and of the same span, retains all original rafters and collars in place, not smoke-blackened. An early 19th-century stair features a moulded and wreathed hardwood handrail with stick balusters. The cross-wing is believed to date from 1899, based on a slate with that date found in the roof; it does not appear on the Ordnance Survey map of 1894.

The holding is recorded in the Petre archives as Barwyks, comprising only one acre. The relevant page of the 1556 survey is missing. Court rolls record re-tiling of the house in 1560 and re-thatching of the barn in 1571. From 1587 to 1596 it was occupied by Francis Paperell, a turner. The Walker map of 1601 depicts it as a two-storey building with central entrance and central stack, and one window to each side on each floor, with a low ancillary building receding to the rear right, which is difficult to reconcile with the surviving evidence of the medieval house.

Two ornamental fragments from The Hyde, a mansion built in 1719 and destroyed by fire in 1965 before later demolition (situated 450 metres to the west-southwest), lie loose in the front garden. These comprise a stone crest with the initials 'E D' and 'B D' (for Disney) and a stone sculpture of a lion passant.