Herds Farmhouse

Herds Farmhouse is a house dating from the 15th century, with extensions made in the 19th century. It has a timber frame, with lower walls covered in weatherboarding and upper walls plastered, topped with a roof of handmade red clay tiles. The building consists of a 2-bay crosswing from a medieval hall house, oriented approximately northeast-southwest, featuring an inserted axial chimney stack from around 1600. The farmhouse was extended to the northeast by one bay in the 19th century, which includes an external chimney stack at the end. There is also a 19th-century extension to the southeast on the site of the medieval hall, which has a chimney stack in the end wall that is now blocked off at roof level.

The farmhouse is two storeys high. On the southwest elevation, there is a 4-panel door beneath a shallow hood from the 19th century, along with two 20th-century casement windows on the ground floor and three on the first floor. The crosswing has a gablet roof. The southwest end of the building was formerly jettied, and the wallplate that supported the jetty is still present but hidden by plaster. On the southeast side, there are 20th-century doors on either side of the central wall post, which likely occupy the positions of the medieval twin service doors, although all evidence is concealed by plaster.

The upper northeast wall of the crosswing has been stripped of plaster, revealing two complete unglazed windows, each with three diamond mullions, now located inside the 19th-century extension. There is also evidence of an unglazed window in the upper part of the northwest wall, just northeast of the central post. Curved tension bracing outside the studs has been reported. An inserted ceiling over the upper room features an axial beam with lamb's tongue stops from the 17th century. The original roof was of crownpost construction but was completely rebuilt with softwood in a clasped purlin form during the 19th century. An inserted chimney stack is located immediately northeast of the central tie beam. All visible evidence and the arrangement of the site suggest that this was the service crosswing of a hall house, of which the remainder has been demolished.