Butterfly Farmhouse

Butterfly Farmhouse is a former farmhouse dating back to circa 1570, with alterations made around 1620. Originally built as a three-cell cross-entry house, a two-cell cross-wing was added to the north end around 1620. The house is two storeys high and is timber-framed with plastered walls, maintaining a traditional textured daub-plaster finish. The cross-wing features ovolo-moulded oversailing gable tiebeams. The roof is tiled, and it has two axial chimneys dating to the 17th century; one, originally of buff brick, had its shaft rebuilt around 1970 using original bricks, while the other, in the cross-wing, has a sawtooth shaft of red brick. The building incorporates windows from various periods, including several 16th-century diamond-mullioned windows on the first storey, now with modern glazing. A large ovolo-mullioned and transomed early 17th-century staircase window is present, as is a similar chamber window of oriel form with a moulded cill. Mid-19th century windows with iron small-pane casements are also included, along with some 20th-century casements. A boarded 19th-century entrance door serves as the main entry. Some original or circa 1600 pargetting (decorative plasterwork) is found on an internal wall, featuring highly textured panels with sunk strapwork designs, considered an unusually early example. A dogleg staircase dating to circa 1620 was added to the earlier service cell. A large fragment of 17th-century painted wall decoration, consisting of vertical strips, exists in one chamber. The house also contains several 17th-century arched fireplaces. The 17th-century cross-wing accommodates a kitchen and parlour, both with open fireplaces. The kitchen incorporates very heavy framing, including unchamfered floorjoists and a fireplace lintel reused from an early 16th-century structure. The roof structure features wind-braced clasped-purlin roofs.