Orchard Farmhouse

Orchard Farmhouse is a former farmhouse with origins dating back to the late 14th century or early 15th century, with the parlour end on the right rebuilt in the mid 16th century. The building is timber framed, with parts rendered and a section of the front wall rebuilt in 19th-century colourwashed brick. The right gable end has been cased in mid 20th-century brick. The roof is pantiled and was originally half-hipped at both ends. The farmhouse consists of three cells and is 1½ storeys high. It features various mid 20th-century casement windows, including one secondary diamond-mullioned window that has been opened out at the parlour end, and one raking dormer. The cross-entry has a mid 20th-century boarded door, and the stack has a rendered shaft.

Inside, the core of the farmhouse includes a former open hall and an associated service end. While some framing is exposed, there have been many later alterations. There is evidence of a rear hall window with square mullions and remains of two-centre arched service doorways. The soot-stained coupled-rafter roof is largely intact. An early 17th-century inserted ceiling features plain joists set on edge. During this period, the central tie beam was cut, and its ends were supported on queen-posts that are arched-braced to a flat collar. The stack, also from the early 17th century, is located against the upper end of the hall and has a good intact fireplace in the parlour chamber. Two mortices in the studs of the rear wall indicate a previous timber chimney. The two-bay parlour beyond the stack has heavy full-height studding and shows evidence of diamond-mullioned windows. The closely spaced plain joists are trimmed for a ladder stair at the rear, suggesting that this block was added before the hall was floored. Access to the parlour chamber on the first floor was improved in the early 17th century by removing the tie beam against the stack and supporting a higher tie beam on cruck-like timbers set immediately in front of the wall posts.