Ponds Farmhouse

Ponds Farmhouse is a house dating from the 15th century and mid-16th century, located on Buckhurst Road in Frittenden. It features a timber frame with exposed close studding and plaster infilling, topped with a plain tiled roof. The structure consists of four framed bays, with two bays from each period of construction. The house has two storeys and an attic, with a continuous jetty at the lower level on the right side, supported by brackets and featuring an exposed truncated dragon beam at the end. The jettying returns to the right side. The roof is hipped and has a moulded stack cluster at the center right, along with two gabled dormers. The wooden casements on the first floor have 2, 4, 2, and 3 lights, while those on the ground floor have 4 and 3 lights. The casements on the left side of each floor are flanked by blocked mullioned sidelights. There is a 20th-century gabled half-timbered porch at the center right with a plank and stud door. To the left, there is an outshot with a red brick ground floor and a casement window, with exposed studwork above. The right return features a doubled wall plate, indicating a raised roof. At the rear, there is a catslide outshot made of timber on a brick base.

Inside, the house is structurally two builds, with the right section being older and oriented north-south. It has double wave moulded beams, and the truncated dragon beam suggests that the facade was cut back to align with the east-west 16th-century extension. The doubled wall plate in this older wing indicates alterations to the roof structure, creating a single hipped roof over the rebuilt building. The two builds are connected by doubled main ports and scarfed plates. The stack includes a large ground floor inglenook in the 16th-century hall, featuring simple chamfered beams. There are ovolo and hollow chamfered mullioned windows now facing into the outshot, as well as a chamfered rear door surround, also leading to the outshot. The fireplaces have four-centred arches with indented spandrels. The house includes quarter log stairs, particularly leading to the attic, and the clasped purlin roof in the 16th-century wing is currently inaccessible.