Rosery Farmhouse

Rosery Farmhouse is a house, originally a farmhouse, dating to the 16th century. It is located on the Woodbridge Road in Great Bealings. The house is timber-framed, now with colourwashed render and a 19th-century brick skin, and has a plain tiled roof, originally thatched. The building consists of a ground-floor hall plan of 6 bays with a chimney stack, possibly of a later date.

The front of the house, facing the yard, has a 19th-century brick skin in a Flemish bond pattern, with decorative Tudor detailing. A porch is situated on the right, featuring brick piers and a gable with exposed, chamfered timbers and a finial at its apex. To the right of the porch is a two-light casement window with a Tudor hood mould and label stops; to the left are two similar two-light windows, with a single-light casement between them. The first floor has four two-light casement windows, also with hood moulds and label stops. The roof is hipped with gablets. An axial chimney stack is located on the left side, rebuilt in 19th-century brick. The right-hand end has been rebuilt in Flemish bond brick and features a central chimney stack with offsets. The left-hand end has an outshut running along the rear, incorporating a two-light casement window. To the right of the outshut is a doorway with a hood mould and two two-light windows, both with hood moulds. A further two-light casement window is centrally placed on the first floor, with a 20th-century single-light window to its left. The rear of the house is partially masked by a 19th-century lean-to outshut.

Inside, the ground floor hall has chamfered and jowled wall posts supporting massive, chamfered ceiling beams with end-stops and joists. The walls are close-studded, and there is a 16th or early 17th-century chimney stack with a substantial bressumer featuring a chamfered lower edge and cambered top. A similar ceiling is found in the room beyond the stack. A third ground floor room was originally divided into two service rooms, evidenced by mortice holes in an axial ceiling beam, each with a door from the hall – the right-hand door is now blocked. Close-studded walling and one blocked window are also present. Upstairs, the walls feature jowled wall posts, and blocked windows with diamond-section mullions and cambered tie beams to the dividing walls. The roof space contains chamfered crown posts with arch braces connecting to the collar purlin, collars, and common rafters, all held together with long, uncut pegs. The wall plate at first-floor level has edge-halved scarf joints with square, vertical butts, seemingly contemporary with the building’s construction.