Tithe Ward Farmhouse

Former farmhouse at Three Elm Lane, Golden Green, Hadlow. Early 16th century in origin, much altered and rebuilt in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, with some late 19th-century alterations and modernisation around 1950.

The building is constructed with exposed timber-framing on red brick footings, with the framing nogged in brick at ground floor level. It has brick chimney stacks, the main stack including some late 16th and early 17th-century brickwork, and a peg-tile roof. The house sits set back from the lane and is oriented end-on to it at the south-west.

The plan is complex and reflects the building's development. The rear section is lower and was originally a stable, brought into domestic use in the 20th century. The front section appears to be a late 19th-century extension housing the present kitchen, with a narrow projecting lateral stack on the north-west side and a 20th-century main staircase. Behind this is an unheated service room. The large parlour and living room lies further back with an axial stack. The late 16th and early 17th-century house originally had a two-room plan. The former stable section is early 16th century and was probably the hall of a late medieval house, later downgraded to agricultural use. The original entrance was on the north-west side into the parlour, though the main entrance now faces the south-east side towards the front. The house is two storeys with attics in the roofspace of the late 16th and early 17th-century section. A single-storey 20th-century utility room extension extends from the right side.

Externally, the front gable end has a late 19th-century canted bay window. The ground floor windows, like those elsewhere on the house, are 20th-century casements with a leaded rectangular-pane effect. The timber framing has curving tension braces at first floor level, and the gable displays late 19th-century bargeboards cut through with two rows of cusped trefoils. A 20th-century porch with double sliding glass doors projects to the right, alongside a small window set with circa 19th-century leaded glass. The left (north-west) side has an irregular 1:4-window front, with the lower two-bay section of the former stable at the left end, the single bay of the late 19th-century extension at the right end, and the three uneven bays of the late 16th and early 17th-century section between. The narrow left bay is the width of the main stack, the wide bay accommodates the parlour and living room, and the shorter right bay served the former service room. All these bays, including the 19th-century one, have single tension braces at first floor level on the left side of the wall posts. The main roof is gable-ended, while the lower stable roof is hipped.

Internally, the structure of the late 16th and early 17th-century section is well-preserved. The service room and chamber above have plain chamfered axial beams with large-scantling joists. The parlour living room has chamfered and scroll-stopped axial beams, with chamfered joists featuring stepstops. The chamber above has a four-panel intersecting beam ceiling. A large brick fireplace with a chamfered oak lintel includes various small niches and an oven doorway through the right cheek. The oven housing has been removed to allow access through to the end room. The roof over this section is carried on collared tie-beam trusses with clasped side purlins and queen struts, with original common rafters. The truss in front of the stack has massive wall posts and a rail at first floor level suggesting it was originally a closed truss before the fireplace was built, possibly part of the late medieval house. The lower stable section was narrower and lower in height. The roof above tie-beam level is rebuilt. The cambered tie-beam is arch-braced, forming a four-centred arch with chamfered edges.