Highams Farmhouse

Highams Farmhouse is a house dating back to around 1400, with substantial alterations in the late 16th century and extensions in the 19th century. The original core is timber framed and plastered, with a roof of handmade red clay tiles. Later sections are built of red brick, partly plastered, and have tiled and slated roofs.

The house originally comprised a two-bay hall facing southwest, with a late 16th-century stack in the left bay. A single-storeyed service bay originally stood to the left of the hall. A two-bay parlour or solar crosswing, with a hipped roof, is situated to the right of the hall. The hall range is one storey high with attics, while the crosswing is two storeys tall. A 18th-century dairy, built of red brick with a hipped tiled roof, extends from the rear left angle of the crosswing, forming an L-shaped plan. Smaller 19th-century extensions have been added to the left and rear of the dairy. A large mid-19th-century extension, built of plastered brick with a hipped slate roof, now forms the main entrance front to the southeast, featuring two symmetrically arranged internal rear stacks and an original central porch.

The southwest elevation of the ground floor has several 20th-century casements, a splayed bay, and an aluminium window. The first floor features a 20th-century casement, another within a gabled dormer, an early 19th-century sash window with 16 lights, and a further aluminium window. The hall range is faced with painted brick, while the remainder of the house is plastered. A six-panel door, with glazed upper panels within a round-arched brick surround, provides access. The hall range has jowled posts, deep chamfered braces rising to meet in the middle of the chamfered and cambered central tiebeam. A late 16th-century floor was inserted, comprising a chamfered axial beam with lamb's tongue stops, plain horizontal joists, and a centrally located stack, which has undergone ground floor alterations. The roof is of crownpost construction, featuring a central crownpost with four-way rising braces; the collar purlin is boxed-in, with the collars plastered to the soffits. Notably, a mortise is present within the crownpost, along with a jointed and pegged stub of a second axial brace below other braces. Display bracing and peg-holes indicate a former bench along the side wall of the crosswing. The crosswing exhibits a chamfered binding beam with mortices for arched braces, and plain horizontal joists jointed with central tenons. The front of the crosswing has an underbuilt jetty and six diamond mortices for two originally unglazed windows, once with a stud between them; the rear wall of the ground floor has been removed. A panel of wattle and daub infill is exposed in the side wall of the crosswing. An original doorway to the parlour has been blocked, with the arched head now missing, and a mortice for a draught screen is visible. The central tiebeam is cambered. The roof is believed to be of crownpost construction with four-way rising braces, originally gabled at the front, but later altered to a hip. The 18th-century dairy features an original window with a gauged brick arched head. The windows in the mid-19th-century southeast block have been modernised.

Highams Farmhouse was part of a manor; early records are scarce, with the first mention being Robert Higham, who died in 1427. The house may have been built during his time, and remained in the Higham family until 1545.