Catmore Farm House

Farmhouse. Dating from the 14th century, with extensions from the 15th and 16th centuries and alterations in the 18th and 20th centuries. The house is built partly of brick, with some vitreous and chequer brick, and the upper parts are tile-hung with patterned tiles on the north, west, and south sides; a 1980 date is visible in contrasting tiles on the west. The brickwork covers a timber frame. The plain tiled roofs are hipped to the north and south, and have one hip and one gable to the west. The rectangular plan consists of three blocks: a 14th-century block running north/south on the east side; a 15th-century block, altered in the 16th century, running west/east on the south side; and a 16th-century block running west/east on the north side. The north elevation features a block that slightly projects forward with a higher roof, containing a 3-light C20 casement to the left and an arch cut in the brickwork to the right, providing access to a C20 door in a recess behind which the timber frame is visible. To the right, there are two 3-light casements on the first floor, and a 2-light casement and a glazing bar sash. The south elevation has five glazing bar sashes, a 4-light casement to the left of the ground floor, a glazing bar sash and a 4-light casement to the right, and a central 4-panelled door within a C20 brick porch. A late 16th-century chimney is on the south end wall, and ridge chimneys are at the west end of the south block’s ridge.

Inside the east block, the roof contains two smoke-blackened trusses with scissor bracing and cruck-like principals to the west. A first-floor bedroom has large ceiling beams with cyma recta and cyma reversa moulding, and chamfered and stopped joists. The ground floor also has two similarly moulded beams. The south block has four bays of timber framing, with first-floor rooms extending up to the roof collars. Very tall queen post trusses have curved struts to double butt purlins with wind bracing, ties, posts and braces, all chamfered. A C16 chimney at the west incorporates a bacon smoking loft on the first floor. A ground floor room to the east of two bays has very large moulded beams, chamfered and stopped joists, and a large C16 inserted chimney to the west with an eye carving on the fireplace beam. A possible cross passage is to the west of the chimney, and a further room has a large C16 chimney with an eye and cross carved on the fireplace beam and central carved decoration F1579F, possibly a later addition. In the north block, an altered 16th-century spiral stair formerly rose around a central post to the east, and a 4-bay roof has altered collared trusses, some including re-used carved timbers.