Elms Farmhouse

Elms Farmhouse

A Grade II* listed former farmhouse of late 15th-century date with 16th-century alterations and a 19th-century wing to the north. The building is timber-framed and rendered with a roof of concrete pantiles. It is a three-cell house of Wealden type, comprising two storeys and an attic.

The house exhibits jetties to the north: the service end jetty retains original brackets and buttress-shafts, while the jetty at the parlour end is concealed by later additions. The south front features mid-20th-century standard casement windows. The entrance is a lobby entrance with a doorcase having an eared architrave, frieze and pedimented cornice, and a semi-glazed door in two leaves. The building has an internal stack and an external stack at the west gable end.

The interior contains a two-bay former open hall with heavy close studding exposed on the upper floor. The central truss comprises an arched-braced cambered tie beam carrying a tall octagonal crown-post, moulded at cap and base, with two-way bracing to the collar purlin. The roof has been considerably altered and is now of side purlin form, although the lower row of purlins with short wind braces appear to be original. The dais beam is moulded and embattled. The two-bay parlour has its gable end wall and part of the south wall rebuilt. The parlour ceiling has mutilated cross beams with remains of hollow moulding and a central band of leaf ornament, together with plain joists. The former outside wall to the north shows part of the jetty, similar to the service end, remains of embattling on the mid rail, and a blocked window with chamfered mullions. An original blocked doorway in the south wall of the parlour chamber may have led to a garderobe. Most timbers in the service cell are concealed. A half-bay between the hall and parlour, probably for a timber flue, now accommodates the 16th-century stack with open fireplaces on both floors.

A high-quality 16th-century inserted floor in the hall has roll-moulding to the main beam, joists and cornice; the joists in the lower half are concealed. The parlour chamber and upper bay of the hall chamber have cambered ceilings with deeply-chamfered joists.

The most significant feature of the house is the survival of extensive wall painting, principally of late 16th-century date. In the parlour chamber, well-preserved all-over decoration comprises stylised flowers framed by ribbons and coils in white, pink and red on a slate grey ground. A frieze incorporates framed texts from the Coverdale Bible and shields bearing the initials of Richard Kybyll, thought to be a descendant of the original builder. The upper half of the hall chamber contains less well-preserved remains of painting on four walls, with the wall against the open truss comprising vertical lapped elm boards. The all-over design incorporates flowers enclosed by contiguous quatrefoils, with larger geometric panels above tie beam level and remains of further framed texts and a shield initialled 'K' over 'RA'. The north wall of the parlour has early 17th-century regular grey overpainting of studding, between which are eight red ochre motifs. Over the fireplace are three identical red ochre designs showing a shield with an elaborate surround of stylised foliage.