Ward Green Farmhouse

Ward Green Farmhouse is a Grade II* listed farmhouse that dates back to the 15th and 17th centuries. It consists of two sections: a two-storey, two-cell block from the early 17th century on the right, and a three-cell open hall house from the early 15th century set at right angles to the left.

The 17th-century block is timber-framed and plastered, featuring a plaintiled roof with a central chimney made of buff brick that has a sawtooth shaft. It has two windows: on the ground floor, there is a pair of early 19th-century small-pane sash windows, while the first floor has a pair of early 18th-century three-light windows with transoms and wrought iron casements in the center. A mid-20th-century small-pane casement indicates the former position of a cross-entry doorway to the left, which is covered by a cantilevered plaintiled pentice. The lower range has a pantiled roof, which was previously thatched, and also features a central chimney of buff brick from the 17th century.

The earlier range includes a two-bay open hall. The central open truss originally had an arch-braced cambered tiebeam, which was largely removed in the late 16th or early 17th century, replaced by long cruck-like timbers attached to the storey posts. These timbers are believed to be the reused original archbraces and support a collar-beam at the top. The studwork is well-crafted but widely spaced, and there is a two-centred arched doorway leading to the parlour. Heavy unchamfered floor joists are present in both end cells, and the coupled-rafter roof, which was formerly hipped, is largely intact.

A notable feature is a large original wattle-and-daub baffle laid on oak planks above the collars, which was used for smoke extraction at the upper end of the hall, making it a rare survival. A chimney with a lintelled open fireplace was inserted in the cross-entry around 1600, along with an upper floor in the hall. The later block includes a complete plank-and-muntin cross-passage screen. The framing is of high quality for its date, with close-studding and a believed large concealed ovolo moulded mullioned and transomed chamber window. The floor joists are closely spaced and on-edge, and there are back-to-back open fireplaces. Additionally, fragments of a 17th-century moulded plasterwork scheme can be found in one of the chambers.