Capstone Farmhouse

Capstone Farmhouse is a house dating from the mid-15th century, with substantial rebuilding in the mid-20th century. It is timber-framed and rendered, with 20th-century brickwork, a rebuilt 20th-century brick ridge stack, and a hipped tiled roof. The design is of the Wealden type.

The original layout comprised a central hall with a storeyed chamber to the right and a service range to the left, rebuilt around 1800. A floor and stack were inserted into the hall in the late 16th century.

The exterior is two storeys high with a three-window front. Originally a recessed central hall with jettied end ranges, the left-hand range was rebuilt. The hall has overhanging eaves with curved braces from each end, the left-hand one supported by a curved bracket. A 20th-century door is located on the left. Two large, 17th-century, six-light mullion and transom windows with leaded lights were inserted into the middle and right-hand sections around 1966. There are also 17th-century three-light mullion casements, with ovolo mouldings, to the centre and right, and a small hipped dormer. A rear lean-to is also present.

The former hall contains a wide, late 16th-century fireplace on the left, with small recesses at the back and a bread oven to the right. A late 16th-century inserted floor features a moulded axial beam. The partition wall shows morticing and studs, indicating the original positions of a ground-floor door and a ladder stair to the first-floor chamber. The upper end has heavy, flat, barefaced joists tenoned into the axial beam. The first floor has rear jowl posts, with smoke blackening toward the hall on the outer posts. The moulded, curved braces to the central tie beam have been removed, and there is an octagonal king post with a moulded base and cap and four arch braces to the ridge. Late 16th-century rear casements feature diagonal bars and ovolo mouldings. The house retains many original details and is a good example of a Wealden-type house.