Kingsmill Down Farmhouse And Horsewheel Adjacent

Kingsmill Down Farmhouse and the adjacent horsewheel are a house dating from the 16th century, with extensions from the 17th and 18th centuries. The core of the building is timber framed, significantly extended with red brick (partly in English bond) and some flint and rubble at the rear. The roof is plain tiled and hipped to the left, with stacks at the right end and projecting at the left end. There are two margin light sash windows on each floor, with segmental heads on the ground floor. The central door features six raised and fielded panels, a lozenge-traceried rectangular fanlight, and a segmental iron hood.

The right return of the house is two storeys high, rendered, with a steeply pitched hipped roof and metal casement windows of slightly different patterns. It has a central boarded door and includes a flint and rubble outshot and a rear wing. Inside, the kitchen wing has visible interior framing, with wattle and daub and lathe and plaster walls. The roof features truncated clasped purlins and wind braces, possibly indicating it was a cross-wing to the main range. There is some simple mid-18th century panelling and raised and fielded moulded doors, including a fine front door with diagonal planks and strap hinges.

The staircase is a simple straight flight, while the upper landing has a short mid-18th century dog leg stair with turned balusters with square knaps, a moulded handrail, and extended newels, accommodating changes in levels between different builds. The internal divisions, partitions, and specialized storage and processing rooms, such as the pantry and washhouse, largely remain intact, including a kitchen copper. The flint bakehouse outshot, which dates to 1781 based on its dismantled oven, is also present. Adjoining to the south is a mid-18th century donkey wheel with a vertical post to the drum and an iron bucket. The timber housing for the wheel, with a tiled roof, was rebuilt in 1906 and features moulded timbers of good scantling.