Upper Postern Farmhouse

Farmhouse. Built in the early 18th century, with later 19th-century alterations. The lower level is constructed with Flemish bond red brick, featuring burnt headers, while the upper levels are timber-framed and clad in tile hanging. Brick stacks and chimneyshafts are visible, and the roof is covered in peg tiles.

The farmhouse faces north and features a two-room plan with a central entrance hall containing a dogleg staircase. Both rooms have rear lateral stacks. Integral outshots contribute to a four-room plan on both the half basement and ground floor levels. The original kitchen is located in the half basement on the front left (east) side, accessible via a service doorway and original porch. The ground floor rear rooms were originally covered by a sloping outshot roof, but the right rear room was improved in the 19th century with its own cross roof.

The building is two storeys high with a half basement and attic space. The symmetrical front elevation has a 19th and 20th-century three-window arrangement of casements with glazing bars. A central front doorway is reached by a flight of six stone steps, featuring its original bead-moulded doorframe, fielded six-panel door, and flat hood. Side lights have replacement glazing bars. A moulded timber eaves cornice runs along the top, and the tall, steeply pitched roof is half-hipped to the left and gable-ended to the right, incorporating three front dormer windows with hipped roofs. A 20th-century bay window is set into the ground floor front room on the right (west) end wall. The left (east) end wall contains a doorway to the kitchen, with an original bead-moulded frame and fielded three-panel door, accessed through the original brick porch, which includes a bench around two sides. The rear of the house features original flat-faced mullion windows and a back door with an old plank door. A 19th-century hipped roof was added to the first-floor west outshot room, along with a rear-facing four-pane sash window. A curious relieving arch sits just above ground level adjacent to the back door, believed to be part of a well housing. The brickwork of the left (east) end wall contains 18th-century graffiti, a series of initials with dates, the earliest being GW 1727.

The interior is well-preserved, retaining original carpentry and joinery details. Most rooms feature chamfered axial beams with scroll stops. Original joinery includes a dogleg staircase with square newel posts, a closed string, a moulded flat handrail, and turned vase-shaped balusters, along with fielded two-panel doors and cupboards.

Upper Postern is an attractive and well-preserved example of polite architecture at the level of a yeoman farmer.