Four Ashes Farmhouse

Former farmhouse, dating from the 15th century, with subsequent alterations in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. It is timber-framed and rendered, with plaintiled roofs. The building has a complex layout consisting of several distinct sections linked by an internal chimney stack with a plain red brick shaft.

To the right of the stack is a three-bay medieval house, with the present entrance positioned within the original cross-entry. This section has a gabled dormer with plain bargeboards, two old casement windows to the ground floor (one 3-light and one 2-light, both with a single horizontal bar to the lights), and a four-panelled entrance door with the top two panels glazed, set within an open gabled rustic porch. To the left of the stack, a 16th-century parlour wing, potentially incorporating a further medieval bay, features a reinstated 4-light mullioned window on the ground floor and a small casement window above.

A small, two-storey 17th-century wing projects from the main range. This wing has a large stepped external chimney-stack bearing three truncated octagonal shafts on molded bases, plain bargeboards, an overhanging tie-beam, and a 3-light casement window to each storey with pintle hinges and a single horizontal bar. A reinstated mullion-and-transome window was added in 1984 on the right side wall.

At the rear of the main range is a tall, narrow gabled stair wing with plain bargeboards and an overhanging tie-beam, a short flint and brick lean-to, and a red brick gabled wing containing a single-storey kitchen.

Internally, little medieval framing remains visible. The tie-beam of the open truss spanning the former hall has been cut, though long arched braces are still present. The roof is covered, but appears to be of a simple rafter form. The inserted ceiling in the hall has a double roll-molding with run-out stops to the main beam and an ogee-molding with run-out stops to the joists. A stack was inserted against the partition at the upper end of the hall, containing two hearths. The hall fireplace has a plain timber lintel, while the parlour side has a damaged lintel with a double roll-molding and leaf stops.

The 16th-century parlour block contains good close-studding and a main beam with a double roll-molding. On its front ground floor wall are housings for a long diamond-mullioned window, indicating that part of the older structure is incorporated. The rear wall contains a high 7-light window with molded mullions still in situ. The rear stair wing houses an early 17th-century dog-leg stair with flat shaped and pierced balusters, and pierced newel posts with rounded finials. A small attic room above the stair has a 2-light window. The front wing has an open fireplace with an ovolo-moulded brick surround, plastered, to the ground floor, and a smaller similar upper fireplace with brick exposed. A blocked original window, similar to that reinstated on the ground floor, is present in the side wall.