Moat Farmhouse

Moat Farmhouse is a house dating from the early 15th century, with alterations and extensions made in the late 16th century. It features a three-cell cross-passage entry plan, is two storeys high with attics, and has four windows. The building is timber-framed, rendered with exposed framing, and has a plaintiled roof. There is an axial chimney made of red brick, which has a late 16th-century base with a recessed date panel and three square diagonally placed flues that were rebuilt around 1970. The windows are 20th-century casements, and there is an oak boarded entrance door.

Inside, the house has a two-bay open hall with a central open truss. This truss has an arch-braced cambered tie-beam that supports an octagonal crown-post with a simply moulded cap and base, along with four solid arch-braces. The strutted tie beam arch-braces rest on hewn polygonal pilasters, which originally extended down to the floor. There are two arched doors leading into the service end, and evidence suggests there were hall windows with hinged shutters. The hall shows soot-blackening throughout.

The service and parlour ends are storeyed, featuring lodged floors and originally a half-hipped roof. The first floor and attic were inserted in the hall around 1580, and there is a chimney with a wide hall fireplace and two arched-headed fireplaces in the chambers. At the rear, there is a staircase and garderobe wing with a wide window that has ovolo-moulded mullions. A rear service wing, which is one and a half storeys, was added later, and its eaves level was raised. For further details, refer to "English Vernacular Houses" by Eric Mercer, published by H.M.S.O. in 1975.