Bridge End

House. Dating from the 16th century or earlier, Bridge End is a 3-bay timber-framed hall house. A floor, staircase, and likely the side chimney were added in the mid 17th century. A timber-framed west wing was probably built in 1732, evidenced by a plaster date plaque above the front door. A single-story brick and slate kitchen was added to the northeast corner in the 19th century.

The house is L-shaped, timber-framed, and plastered, with steep gabled roofs covered in old red tiles. The main range, one and a half storeys high, runs north-south. The northwest wing is two storeys and has an attic. The main range likely represents the south parlour and two-bay open hall of a late medieval house. Inside, exposed features include paired tension braces in the upper wall panels, long curved braces to tie beams, and massive inclined struts clasping the purlin at the joint with the principal rafter. Bar sockets near the kitchen door suggest a former screens passage.

The 17th-century conversion included a floor structure carried on chamfered axial beams, an entrance lobby and staircase partitioned from the western side of the parlour, and a large lateral chimney and fireplace in the middle of the east side. Upper floor windows now cut across the wall plate and eaves, though this may be a later alteration. The convenience of the house was likely improved with the addition of the 18th-century west wing. An upper-floor fireplace and flue were added to the large east chimney, a smaller fireplace and external chimney were provided for the parlour, and an unusual timber yoke was installed on the upper floor where a tie beam was cut through.

The higher west wing has a high brick plinth, squared beams and joists and corner fireplaces and a chimney at the southwest corner. It contains a blocked door in the angle with the main range. The west gable has been rebuilt in brick with garage doors, but the plastered gable has a small 18th-century casement window to the attic. The west front has a moulded battened door, panelled pargetting, and a 19th-century bracketed gabled hood. It has a three-light casement window on the ground floor and a two-light window above. The south end is plastered with a small canted bay window with a hipped tiled roof. The east wall is cased in painted brickwork. Interior features include a fine 18th-century egg-and-dart moulded cornice to a large ground-floor fireplace and a good 17th-century turned balustrade with a rounded handrail to the stair landing. Fine panelling was reportedly removed from the parlour in the 1960s. The house was formerly called Yewhurst Farm and has historically been owned in conjunction with The Whare to the north. According to the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments, it may be an example of the unit-system, used for housing separate households jointly farming the same land.