Eastwick Farmhouse

Eastwick Farmhouse is a former farmhouse dating back to the 15th century, with later additions from the mid-16th century. The building comprises two distinct sections: the eastern part retains features of a 15th century house, now substantially altered, while a mid-16th century two-cell range adjoins it at a right angle. It was restored in the mid-1960s. The farmhouse is timber-framed and plastered, with the main range having a thatched roof and the earlier wing a black pantiled roof. It has two and a half storeys and an attic. The windows are 3 and 4-light casements with horizontal glazing bars; a small original upper window features moulded mullions. A gabled porch of colourwashed brick with a 6-panel door (the upper four panels glazed) provides a lobby entrance. The stack has an original axial shaft. A small thatched addition is on the north gable end. The earlier wing has similar casement windows. Inside the main range, there is good heavy studwork, carefully restored. The north ground-floor room has a chamfered floorbeam and closely-spaced chamfered joists, along with a fine original 5-light window with roll and cavetto mouldings. A similar, slightly damaged window is above. The south ground-floor room has a roll-moulded floorbeam, with concealed joists. Original doorways lead into both rooms, featuring heavy, shallow-arched heads. One upper room contains a ceiling with a single roll moulding on all components. The stack is an early 17th century rebuilding, slightly larger than its original counterpart. A pine newel stair leads to the upper floor, and a queen-post roof is present. The 15th century work includes a service bay and the lower bay of a former open hall, which shows heavy, widely-spaced studs with evidence of cross-entry doorways. Most of the joists were removed from the service cell in the mid-20th century. There is evidence of original square-headed service doorways with ogee-moulded surrounds, and an inserted floor with massive cross-beams and closely-spaced chamfered joists. The roof is a replacement from the 18th or 19th century. The remainder of this range was lost in the early 20th century. The unusual arrangement of two substantial 15th-16th century dwellings at right angles suggests one range may have been a unit house.