Homecroft

Homecroft is a house that dates back to the 16th century or earlier. It is an unusually complete, long single-storey hall house that faces north. The building is depicted on the Clintons Estate Map of 1588. In the early 17th century, a floor was inserted, and the lower eastern bay of the hall was rebuilt with chimneys, creating an L-shaped service end. An additional floor was added over the kitchen in the early 18th century, but there is still no communication with the chambers above the hall and parlour.

The house is timber-framed and features steep old red tile roofs, gabled at the west end but half-hipped at the east and north ends of the wing. There is a modern hipped dormer on the south side. The north side is plastered and lined out in panels, while other areas are covered with weatherboarding. The windows are modern 3-light wooden casements. A small hipped tiled canopy is located over the front door, leading into a lobby by the chimney. There are twin doors leading to a dairy on the east and a pantry on the west side of the kitchen.

Inside, there is a stair in the northeast corner that leads to a room above, which has been adapted to also serve the room over the kitchen. The walls of the western part of the house are close studded with tension bracing. The roof features clasped purlins with principals that are not diminished in both the 16th-century and later parts. A curved brace connects the original jowled post to the chamfered tie beam of the truss between the parlour and hall. The truss is close studded and filled with wattle-and-daub. A similar infilled truss is found on the north side of the chimney, which was formerly located in the middle of the hall, with a notice for a brace to the tie beam on the south side. The joists are chamfered and hollow stopped on a chamfered axial beam in the floor inserted below the eaves in both the hall and parlour. There was a former stair in the northwest corner of the parlour, and a new 18th-century winding stair is located in the northeast corner of the parlour, accessed from the hall. The parlour itself is unheated. Up until 1933, the house was known as The Vineyard. Homecroft is part of a group at the northern end of the Conservation Area.