Lock's Farmhouse

Lock's Farmhouse is a 17th-century farmhouse that has been extended and remodelled in the late 19th century and further extended in the 20th and 21st centuries.

The principal 17th-century range is constructed of hand-made brown brick laid in a variety of bonds including English bond, with grey squared-stone quoins. The 19th and 20th-century extension ranges are built of stock brick in stretcher bond. Windows throughout are timber and roofs are clay tiled.

The building comprises three parallel ranges broadly aligned north to south, with the 17th-century range at the centre, a 19th-century range to the west and a 20th to 21st-century range to the east. The 17th-century core shows evidence of a former lobby entry plan with an entrance to the west side, now internal and replaced by the main staircase.

The centre of the northern elevation is formed by the three-storey 17th-century range, which stands on a plinth of red bricks. The ground floor has an entrance to the right-hand side with stone jambs and projecting caps, surmounted by a moulded round-headed fanlight under a brick arch. The solid timber door has four panels and 19th-century door furniture. To the centre is a multi-pane tripartite casement window surmounted by a segmental brick arch and flanked by stone quoins. A similar window appears on the first floor without quoins. The attic storey has a central multi-pane casement window set directly below the eaves. The end roof rafters are visible to either side of the half-hipped roof.

The east side elevation of the 17th-century range is partially visible. On the ground floor are three irregularly sized windows under brick segmental arches: a multi-paned casement with a vestigial stone quoin (perhaps from a former smaller opening), a small two-over-two horned sash window and a larger two-over-two sash window. The first floor has regular four-pane casement windows, including from the left a 20th-century addition under a concrete lintel, two four-pane windows and one eight-pane side-opening casement. The 17th-century main roof has a group of four tall chimney stacks to the ridge.

The north elevation of the 19th-century western range is set back with a half-hipped roof. On the ground floor is an open-sided timber porch with pitched roof over a planked door. To the first floor, offset to the left, is a two-over-two horned sash window. To the centre is an inserted carved panel formed of three curved blades within a wheel, set into square moulding with spandrels to each corner. The side elevation to the west has two two-over-two horned sash windows and a four-pane casement window. The ridge carries a pair of grouped chimney stacks.

The north elevation of the 20th-century eastern range is gable-ended with a single four-pane horned sash window to the first floor. Further to the east is a timber-framed and glazed early 21st-century extension with a hipped roof and glazed lantern forming the ridge. To the northern end, the eastern side elevation has a single one-over-one sash window to the first floor and the main roof ridge carries a brick chimney stack.

The rear elevation is centred on the south end of the 17th-century range, similar in form to the north end but with a canted bay window to the ground and first floor at the centre. Each bay has three horned sash windows under stone lintels, with the central window two-over-two and those to the sides one-over-one. The attic storey has a central multi-pane casement window set directly below the eaves. The southern end of the 17th-century east side elevation is formed of brown brickwork with characteristic grey stone quoins and a plinth of brick augmented by grey stone blocks. To the west, the southern end of the 19th-century range is half-hipped with canted bay windows of the same design. To the east, the 20th-century range is gable-ended with a multi-pane casement window under a segmental brick arch to the ground floor and a two-over-two horned sash window to the first floor.

The ground floor of the 17th-century range comprises three linear rooms running south, with the southernmost two divided by a stack. Most rooms have 19th-century panelled doors with moulded architraves. The dining room to the north of the stack has a 19th-century cast-iron fireplace surround. Brick steps descend from this room to a cellar which is mainly brick-paved but has a stone-paved vestibule to the west side, which may indicate the position of a former external entrance. The sitting room to the south of the stack has been opened up into the west range through round-headed arches. It has an inglenook fireplace formed of hand-made bricks in English bond beneath a substantial bressumer. At the back of the fireplace are the vestigial remains of an inset bread oven. All ground floor rooms have spine beams which are chamfered with stepped run-out stops.

The first floor is interconnected to the extension ranges to the east and west. Doors are panelled or planked with plain architraves. A winder staircase to the north front serves both floors and the attic. It is steep with plain spindles and a square-section handrail. The substantial hand-cut floor frame of the attic storey, bearing adze marks, is exposed in the southernmost bedroom. The west wall of this room has a blocked-up window with a shallow cambered arch set into a moulded architrave. Off the landing is an inset shelf within a former window opening.

The attic has been opened up to form a long room with the chimney stack towards the centre. The timber frame of the roof is exposed, formed of hand-cut rafters which appear to be joined at the apex (hidden by plasterwork), supported by continuous purlins with bridled joints. The purlins are supported from the floor by upright braces, perhaps added after the removal of posts supporting the ridge. One curved wind brace survives, linking three rafters. Hip rafters survive to both ends. The 19th and 20th-century ranges have plain fixtures and fittings, predominantly 20th-century. The main staircase, dating from the 19th century, rises above the original lobby entrance and has a moulded handrail, straight spindles and a squared newel post with ball finial. The canted bay windows have moulded architraves and panelled wainscoting. The first floor contains bedrooms and bathrooms interconnected with the 17th-century first floor.