Holmbush

Holmbush is a house and attached barn with a history spanning several centuries. The house itself dates from around the late 18th or early 19th century, while the barn has origins in the 16th century, although it was altered in the 19th century. The house is constructed of painted brick on the ground floor, with the first floor being tile-hung, and has a slate roof and brick stacks. The barn features a framed construction clad in weatherboarding, with a peg-tile roof. At the time of a survey in 1989, the barn was undergoing renovation and alterations with plans to incorporate it into the house.

The house faces approximately east and is situated end-on to the road. It has a double-depth plan under a two-span roof, with a central entrance and front rooms heated by end stacks. There are also axial stacks serving the service rooms at the rear. A single-storey block from around the late 19th century adjoins the main house to the southwest, oriented on a west-east axis and heated by a lateral stack on the south side. The barn, whose roof runs parallel to the main house, is attached to this single-storey addition, creating an overall "Z" shaped plan.

The two-storey house has a symmetrical three-bay entrance elevation. A 19th-century panelled front door is centrally placed, sheltered by a pretty 19th-century lattice porch with octagonal posts and a Tudor arched timber lintel. The ground-floor windows to the left and right are late 19th-century tripartite sashes with margin glazing. The first floor has three 2-pane sashes with margin glazing. The rear elevation, visible from the road, has three early 19th-century or earlier 20-pane sashes, a 19th-century plank rear door under a pent roof, and ground-floor windows dating from the 20th century. A 20th-century French window is located on the south return of the main block.

The barn has a full-height opening on its east side and a secondary outshut on its south end under a catslide roof. At the time of inspection, new mullioned windows were being inserted: two on the ground floor and two on the first floor on the front (east) elevation, three on the ground floor and two on the first floor on the rear elevation, and two on the roadside (north) end.

Inside the house, a circa 1870 black marble chimneypiece remains in the front left-hand room, and the front right-hand room has an open fireplace with brick jambs.

The barn’s interior features jowled wall posts to the wall framing, with curved braces to the tie beams. Above tie-beam level, the roof is a clasped purlin design with raking queen posts, probably 19th century, although sockets for a former crown post arrangement remain on the tie beams. The rafters are largely re-used. The conversion of the barn has included some replacement of timbers and the insertion of a floor.