Butlers Farmhouse

Butlers Farmhouse is a house dating to circa 1610, likely constructed around the same time as Audley End House by Thomas Howard, Earl of Suffolk, then Lord Treasurer to James I. The house is timber-framed and has been plastered, with a peg-tile roof. It has a U-shaped plan, with a principal south-facing range and wings at the east and west ends projecting to the north.

The house is two stories high. The northern side, now the front, was originally the rear elevation and has been considerably rebuilt in the 20th century. All the windows are now 20th-century casements with glazing bars, and the doors are also 20th-century replacements. The south garden elevation features a long range with a prominent red brick "concertina" stack with five shafts, offset to the west, and a smaller three-shaft stack to the east end. The interior is arranged around a three-cell system. The ground floor has a roughly central, fully glazed French window, another window to the east, and four further windows – two 3-light, one 2-light, and one fixed. The first floor has five windows - one 3-light, three 2-light, and one fixed. A 20th-century conservatory extends from the west end.

The north elevation features the stacks visible from the south. Both end wings and the central range have a 20th-century peg-tile roofed ground-floor lean-to. The enclosed central and west sides are enclosed, while the east side is open on posts. A central courtyard has a 6-panel door with full-height side lights, and a single-light window to the east. The west return has a fully glazed door, while the east return has a "stable" double door and a 3-light window. The west cross-wing has a 3-light window and a single-light window in the lean-to’s north end wall. The east cross-wing has a simple recessed porch with a boarded and fielded panel door; original ceiling joists are visible in the porch soffit. The first floor displays two 3-light windows in the central range, one window of five lights in the west wing, and one 3-light, and one 2-light window in the east wing. A tall 20th-century red brick stack is situated in the southwest corner of the courtyard. The side purlins of the west wing gable are visible. The east end elevation has a single-light ground floor window and a 2-light first-floor window. A red brick stack rises through the roof pitch of the cross-wing. The west end has a 20th-century conservatory across the main range and a 3-light window on the ground floor of the wing.

Internally, the house has been considerably rebuilt, with original room divisions reorganized. Original ceiling joists remain, displaying early 17th-century chamfer stops and pendant soffit type common joists. The east end cross-wing is a later addition and incorporates a jowled post in the in-line east end rooms. There is a face halved and bladed scarf in the principal range wall-plate. A large, moulded plasterwork panel, approximately 1.5m x 0.6m, is inset in the position of an over-mantel to the central first-floor chamber, though no fireplace currently exists. The panel bears a quartered shield of arms of Howard and Knivet with a garter, supporting lions and motto, set in ovolo moulded framing with Renaissance heads. Records from the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (RCHM) indicate that significantly more heraldic plasterwork and painting once existed within the house.