Houbridge Hall Farmhouse

Houbridge Hall Farmhouse is a house dating from the 16th century, with alterations made in the 18th and 19th centuries. It features a combination of partly timber-framed construction, painted brick, and plaster, with a roof made of handmade red clay tiles and some sections of gault brick in Flemish bond topped with slate. The building has a two-bay range facing southeast, with an axial stack located at the left end. To the right, there is a three-bay crosswing that extends forward, along with a single-storey extension beyond it, which is roofed with red clay pantiles.

An early 19th-century crosswing is situated to the left, possibly incorporating an earlier and smaller crosswing, and has three internal stacks arranged irregularly against the outside walls. There is also an early 19th-century extension in the rear angle, featuring a hipped roof covered with tiles. The farmhouse is two storeys high, with the left crosswing faced in gault brick.

The entrance elevation of the left crosswing has an early 19th-century sash window with 16 lights on each floor, complemented by cast iron lintels and handmade glass. There are two similar dummy windows of painted plaster in front of a stack, and on the first floor, a blocked central sash window with a semi-circular head and a moulded label supported by scrolled brackets. The entrance features a six-panel door with a plain overlight and a simple portico.

On the left return, the ground floor includes two French windows and two sash windows with 12 lights, while the first floor has two similar sashes and two tripartite sashes with 4-12-4 lights, all with cast iron lintels, some of which display honeysuckle and other ornamentation on scrolled brackets, dating back to the 1840s. A plain string course runs below the first-floor windows, and there is a parapet with a moulded cornice. The hipped roof has a low pitch and is covered with slate.

Inside the main range, there are jowled posts, a chamfered binding beam, and chamfered joists with horizontal sections, all featuring step stops. A rare cogged spit mechanism is located over the blocked large wood-burning hearth. Between the main range and the rear elevation, there is an early 19th-century window with 18 fixed lights, which also has handmade glass. The roof structure is of clasped purlin construction.