Sabines Farm

Sabines Farm is a house dating from the early 16th century, constructed with a timber frame. It consists of four bays, with a central two-bayed open hall that shows signs of soot. The high and low end bays are storeyed. Inside, there are remnants of a crown post roof, and the service doorframes are moulded with cyma, return, and hollow chamfer designs. The central truss posts of the hall originally featured a deep central fillet. The framing includes heavy, close studding spaced 18 inches (0.5 meters) apart, braced with external arched braces. There is evidence in the outer frame of two large hall windows and ground-floor windows in the storeyed ends, as well as sites for cross entry doors. The eastern end frame shows signs of interrupted tie-beam framing to support a half hip gable, with hipping also suggested in the upper gable detail. The soot distribution indicates that smoke from the hall was vented through an end gablet. The eastern end frame has joints for both upper and lower mullioned windows, with the upper window featuring a king mullion and grooves for sliding shutters, while the lower window has a single shutter groove. In the 17th century, the larger upper bay of the hall was floored at half height with deep section joists, likely connected to a contemporary stack. The current chimney stack is from the 18th or 19th century and is smaller than the typical 17th-century type, although it contains some bricks that may be from an earlier 17th-century stack. Recent renovations include nearly complete renewal of the western service bay, and much of the house frame has been significantly replaced, though the eastern bay remains the best preserved. Extensions are being added to the southern rear face, and a new porch is being constructed on the northern front, which will be weatherboarded and peg-tiled.