Almshoe Bury

Almshoe Bury is a manor house, now a farmhouse, with a complex history dating back to the mid-13th century. It was originally built around 1241 for Simon Fitz Adam and subsequently served as a farmhouse from approximately 1374. A substantial east crosswing was added in the mid-15th century, followed by a west parlour wing in the early 16th century. A chimney and first floor were inserted into the main hall during the 17th century, prior to 1663, and a small rear wing was constructed in the 18th century. Further alterations and minor rear additions occurred in the 19th century.

The house is timber-framed and roughcast, with some plastered sills and painted brick casing to the ground floor. It has steep old red tile roofs with aisle catslide roofs that extend down to a single-storey level at the front and rear of the main range. The main north-facing façade features gabled and jettied two-storey wings at each end, and a large cruciform chimney set diagonally on a square base at the centre of the roof ridge. Two canted bay windows are positioned centrally, with two dormer windows above. The entrance is located next to the west wing, accessed via a half-glazed door. A flush box sash window with 4/4 panes is found on the first floor of the east wing gable, while the ground floor lacks windows. A two-light casement window is present on the first floor of the west wing. An external gabled brick porch is attached to the east side, and a high-level door, reached by a short external ladder, is located on the front half of the east side of the east wing. A jettied gabled rear projection adjoins the east wing.

Internally, the exposed timber framework reveals a two-bay aisled hall, divided by a spere truss from a half-bay screen passage at the east end. A capital of a post from the north arcade is visible as part of the open truss. The corresponding post on the south has a quatrefoil section, and above it, a fragment of an arch-brace from the post capital to the tie-beam remains, with plain mouldings on one side and carved dog-tooth ornament on the other. The spere truss at the east end features arch-braces to the tie-beam and filled spandrels. Twenty-two scissor-braced, soot-blackened 13th-century rafter couples survive in the roof space. Open and west end trusses incorporate passing braces but not the spere truss, and the east end truss has been removed. Crown-post roofs with four-way bracing are found in the east wing and in the jettied first-floor chamber projecting to the rear of the cross-passage bay.