Fearns

This is a house, likely dating to around 1560, with two distinct phases of construction closely separated in time. The house is timber-framed with exposed studwork and brick, and has a peg-tiled roof and a red brick stack. It has a rectangular plan, comprising two units.

The front elevation, facing east, is gabled and jettied. The ground floor is now bricked, with a 20th-century two-light window with leaded glazing. Above, the framing is exposed, showing a system of "interrupted tie-beams". The surviving mortices indicate the former presence of a projecting oriel window. A 20th-century three-light casement window with leaded glazing fills a larger opening. The south side shows two units, the eastern one smaller and the western one taller. Exposed first-floor framing is present over brick underbuilding on the ground floor. A 20th-century hip-roofed porch and boarded door are situated at the junction of the units, with a large stack on the west side. All windows are 20th-century casements with leaded panes, including two single-light windows, two three-light windows, and a French window on the ground floor. The first floor has two two-light windows and two three-light windows. A 16th-century moulded bressumer with cable, cyma, and roll mouldings runs between the floors of the rear unit. The rear west end elevation was considerably restored in the 20th century, revealing original gable framing with trapped side purlins and wall plates. Ground and first-floor windows are 20th-century, matching the style of the house.

Inside, the two building phases are clearly distinguishable by their framing. The rear range consists of three bays plus a short western bay, possibly a smoke bay, with heavy, flat-laid joists, step-stopped chamfered, once jettied to the south side and now underbuilt. These joists bear a complete series of Roman numeral carpenters' marks 1-15, and have diminished haunched soffit tenons. The studding has internal nailed stud bracing, and halved and bridle butted scarfs in the wall plate. The roof is of an elegant clasped side purlin form with curved meeting wind braces. Window shutter grooves are visible on the first floor south side, with a single groove on the north side, likely indicating the former location of an oriel window. A single mortice on the exterior south side of the eastern unit may denote the site of a hall wall plate, which has since been removed.