Colts Hill Farmhouse

Colts Hill Farmhouse, Paddock Wood

House, formerly a farmhouse. This building has timber-framed construction on brick and sandstone rubble footings, hung with peg-tiles, with a peg-tile roof and brick stacks. It originated in the mid-15th century and was remodelled in the late 17th century, with a rear addition dating to the 1970s.

The house is positioned below road level, facing south and end on to the road. The original plan was a 4-bay open hall house with a 2-bay hall in the centre and the right (east) end storeyed. The arrangement at the left (west) end is unclear from its origins. The 17th-century remodelling, possibly occurring in several phases, involved flooring the hall and inserting an axial stack with back-to-back fireplaces heating the two left (west) rooms. A lobby entrance probably belonged to this phase, though the present front door is nearly central and opens directly into the centre room. The wall framing shows evidence of considerable reconstruction, and the medieval rafters have been re-used in the existing roof. A rear right wing was added in the 1970s, aligned with the axis of the original house.

The exterior presents 2 storeys with an asymmetrical 4-window front and a roof half-hipped at the ends. An axial stack has a modern brick shaft. A front right corner stack, probably 19th-century, includes a large rectangular sandstone bread oven. An almost central gabled porch on posts has a 19th-century plank front door. Windows comprise 1-, 2- and 3-light 20th-century casements with square leaded panes. The left (west) return has a probably 1930s 2-leaf door with a horizontal porch hood, a 19th-century 3-light small-pane casement, and a 3-light first floor 20th-century casement with square leaded panes. The right (east) return has a similar ground floor casement. The 1970s addition is brick and tile-hung with a peg-tile roof and casement windows with square leaded panes.

Interior features include a 17th-century hall in the centre with a massive chamfered step-stopped crossbeam close to the axial stack and a massive axial beam, along with chamfered stopped joists. The partition between the hall and the right (east) room has been moved, reducing the hall in size. The axial stack has no fireplace on the hall side, presumably blocked. The right-hand room contains original medieval joists of massive scantling and includes a trimmer for a stair. The left-hand room has two ceiling beams on the long axis of later character, and its fireplace has been rebuilt. A stair rises from this room against the rear wall. The wall-framing includes re-used timbers and wall posts without jowls. The medieval hall truss survives immediately right (east) of the inserted stack, retaining one massive hollow-chamfered arched brace intact; the other has been removed.

The roof appears to have been thoroughly rebuilt above the tie beams but re-uses medieval smoke-blackened rafters throughout the roof space, augmented with later rafter couples joined with nails. The medieval tie beam has a rough socket for a crown post. A plain post with diagonal braces down to the tie survives over the left (west) end of the roof, about 1.5 metres high, and does not appear to be part of the medieval arrangement.

This is an interesting traditional house of medieval origins.