Oak Farmhouse

This is a former farmhouse, dating to the late 15th century or around 1500, with a core that may originate from the early 14th century or around 1300. There were alterations carried out around 1600. It represents a rare, although now diminished, example of a modest aisled hall house. The building is one storey in height with attics, and originally comprised three rooms arranged in a cross-entry plan. It is timber-framed and plastered with a pantiled roof, formerly thatched. A chimney of 17th-century red brick is situated axially. Later, in the early 19th century, casement windows were installed. A boarded 19th-century door sits within a gabled, 19th-century open porch at the cross-entry position.

The interior reveals four main phases of development. The earliest phase, likely dating from the 1300s, comprises fragmentary remains of a modest aisled hall house. A closed aisled truss at the left-hand end of the hall shows semi-octagonal shafts rising to moulded capitals, with lap-dovetailed braces to a slender tiebeam. Above the tiebeam is a wattle and daub gable without studding, while below it is close-studding, likely added in the 15th century. The arcade plate at the front wall has a straight brace from the arcade post exhibiting evidence for two unequal bays and an open truss braced only in the upper bay. Furthermore, there are signs of multiple tiebeams positioned over the cross-entry and one either side of the open truss, spaced unequally due to the differences in bay lengths. In the late 15th century, the front wall was rebuilt beneath the arcade plate, featuring close studding. A cross-entry was created at the right-hand end alongside a close-studded partition including two four-centred arched service doorways (one retaining its original door). The rear aisle remained intact at this time. A diamond-mullioned hall window is also visible in the front wall. Around the late 16th century, a first floor was inserted into the hall, featuring flat joists and an arch-braced tiebeam replacing previous tiebeams at the open truss. An early 17th-century parlour block was added to the left of the hall, incorporating back-to-back open fireplaces in the hall and parlour. The service cell to the right was also rebuilt on a tall plinth of narrow bricks, incorporating reused medieval timbers. Several blocked diamond-mullioned windows are present. The roofs have been rebuilt with clasped purlins. A complete late 16th-century plank-and-muntin screen is found in the hall.