Hopwoods Farmhouse

Hopwoods Farmhouse is an early 16th-century house with a late 16th-century cross-wing, small 18th-century additions to the east end, a 20th-century wing to the west, and rear additions of the 20th century. The house is timber-framed and plastered, with red brick and slate roofs. The plan is roughly L-shaped, with further 20th-century additions.

The south elevation, which is the front, has a long range with a central doorway and a stack behind the ridge. A jettied cross-wing projects from the west end, and a further, deeply-set-back gabled block was added in the 20th century. The ground floor has two plain 20th-century doors, two 19th-century three-cant bay windows (one under the jetty), and sash windows with a combination of 2x4, 3x4, and 2x4 panes of glazing. A 20th-century two-light casement window with leaded glazing is found at the east end. The first floor has four windows – two with moulded architraves – consisting of two 19th-century sliding sashes (6x3 panes), one 19th-century casement (3x3 panes), and one 19th-century sash (4x4 panes). The 20th-century block has matching first-floor windows. The north-facing rear elevation has a large central stack running through the roof pitch. An outshut with a catslide roof and a small flat-roofed section containing a two-light casement window (4x2 panes) is at the east end. To the west, a gable of the cross-wing has a first-floor 19th-century sash window (3x4 panes), with 20th-century brickwork on the ground floor. This has been extended eastwards, with a matching two-light casement window above a flat-roofed, 20th-century extension from the 19th-century gable. A broad, projecting, jettied gable of a 20th-century wing is visible to the west. This has two 20th-century casement windows and a boarded door, with a matching sash window on the first floor. The east elevation has projecting wall plates, a lean-to with a catslide roof to the north, four 20th-century casement windows, and one of five lights. The west elevation includes a 20th-century conservatory and a 19th-century external stack at the southwest angle between the jettied block and the 20th-century additions.

The interior features timber framing in the main early 16th-century range, comprising five bays, with an additional 18th-century bay at the east end. The original framing was open on the ground floor, with arch-braced binding joists. A 1700s stack was inserted into the structure and now supports an iron band over a segmental arched ground floor fireplace towards the east. First floor framing has partition framing behind the stack, with nailed tension bracing. The rear wall has a three-light diamond mullioned window and remains of another with shutter rebates. Features include halved and bridle-butted scarf joints in front and back wall plates. The cross-wing, of two bays, is likely later, with some evidence of studding and posts of the central truss. The rear of the wing was extended in the 19th century. The building appears to have started as something other than a conventional house, being completely open on the ground floor yet with an upper floor of two rooms and no initial stack.