Dowd'S Farmhouse

Dowd's Farmhouse is a farmhouse dating from the early 17th century, with alterations made in the early 19th century and a large extension added in the mid 19th century. The building features timber-frame walls that are faced or partly rebuilt in brick, with the front painted, and the extension constructed in red brick. It has an asbestos tile roof with half-hipped ends and a brick axial stack.

The farmhouse has a four-room plan with the front range oriented to the south, where the left room was added later. There is a central hall with a fireplace located in the axial stack on the right, and an unheated service room to the left. Another unheated room on the right is now served by a fireplace built into the back of the hall stack. A significant extension was constructed at the rear in the mid 19th century.

The exterior is two storeys high with an asymmetrical three-window south front. The windows are boarded up casements, and there is a doorway to the right of centre featuring a plank door and a later gabled porch. The roof of the right bay is slightly lower. At the rear, there is a tall two-storey red brick extension with sash windows and a French casement on the ground floor.

Inside, the hall displays exposed wall-framing and is ceiled, featuring a large fireplace with a heavy timber bressumer, a simple early 19th-century chimneypiece, and old cupboards that block a 20th-century tiled chimneypiece. On the west side of the hall, there are two cranked-head doorways in a framed partition: one leads to the service room, which has exposed closely spaced unchamfered joists and exposed wall-framing, while the other leads to a straight staircase. The hall chamber has exposed timber-framing, a chamfered axial beam supported by carved wooden corbels, and a fireplace with a cambered timber bressumer and a Georgian cast-iron grate. The roof space is inaccessible. The farmhouse features old plank doors, one of which has cover-moulds. The rear extension includes a staircase with stick balusters and turned newels, panelled doors, window shutters, and Victorian chimneypieces.

Overall, Dowd's Farmhouse is an interesting example of a three-room plan early 17th-century timber-framed house, enhanced by a large mid-19th-century brick extension at the rear.