Wood Farmhouse

Farmhouse. Dating to the late 16th century, it consists of a two-storey main range with attic space, and a one-and-a-half-storey section at the east end. The building is timber-framed and rendered, with a black glazed pantile roof. It has an internal and end chimney stack to the main range; the internal stack is constructed of reused Tudor bricks. Various old three-light casement windows are present, with transoms and pintle hinges. At the west end of the front and in the west gable, original windows have been reinstated, featuring hollow-chamfered mullions. There are two plank doors. The lower section on the east side has two 20th-century three-light casement windows. Originally the main range had a three-cell plan with a cross-entry, later modified to a lobby entrance, and it is framed in five bays, including a chimney bay. The timber framing is plain and substantial, with main posts bearing shaped heads and reversed braces at the corners. Evidence suggests the presence of several original diamond-mullioned windows; one of five lights and one of four lights remain on the rear upper wall with the mullions still in place. Two open fireplaces are on the ground floor, one in the hall featuring plain lintels with curved stops and a jewel, and the other in the parlour with scroll-stops. An upper fireplace above the parlour has traces of original coloured and tuck-pointed plaster. The ceilings have plain flat-set joists and chamfered main beams, with curved stops and a jewel. The cross-entry was originally divided from the hall by a plain plank screen, of which parts remain. To the east of the cross-entry is a single large service room, containing a blocked stair trap and a later end chimney stack. The room above it, possibly once used as a cheese chamber, appears to have been blocked off from the rest of the upper floor. The upper ceiling at the west end is original, with flat-set joists, but above the two-bay central room (now divided into two), the joists are a later addition and are set on edge. The tie-beam of the open truss, now within a partition wall, has long arched braces. The roof structure includes clasped purlins, one row of unstepped butt purlins and cranked windbraces. The lower section on the east is in two bays of differing dates; one has very substantial, possibly reused, joists, the other has lighter, later framing and is open to the roof. In the kitchen, an old pump reset from the former scullery is dated 1839 and bears the initials T.R. The group value of the listing acknowledges the building’s heritage significance. The house stands sideways on to the road.