Little Hawkwell Farmhouse

Little Hawkwell Farmhouse is a timber-framed building, likely dating to the 16th or early 17th century, although it may incorporate an older core. It has undergone various alterations, including 19th-century modernization and some 20th-century updates. The construction is primarily timber-framed with some brick underbuilding. The front elevation is plastered, the rear is weatherboarded, and the rest of the building is clad in peg-tiles. It features coursed sandstone stacks with late 16th/early 17th-century brick chimneyshafts and a peg-tile roof.

The house follows a basic F- or E-plan, with the main block facing northwest. It originally comprised two rooms, one on either side of a central entrance hall, which incorporates a staircase in a projecting stairblock. The room to the left was the kitchen, with a large projecting gable-end stack, and the room to the right was the parlour, also with a gable-end stack. A rear block, originally one or two rooms wide, projects at a right angle from the west end, and includes a gable-end stack. A small, one-room-plan rear block extends behind the kitchen. An internal inspection was unavailable during the survey, so detailed plan information is limited.

The farmhouse is two storeys high, with an attic in the main block’s roofspace and cellars below.

The symmetrical four-window front is a result of 19th-century remodeling and features 12-pane sash windows, mostly with horns. The outer bays have tripartite sash windows. Three gabled dormers contain casement windows, and the two cellar windows are mullioned. The central doorway has a large, early 17th-century oak doorframe with a moulded surround, though the stops have worn away. A contemporary gabled porch with a panelled door, both in a Jacobean style, stands before the doorway, accessed by a flight of stone steps. The main roof is gable-ended, with tall late 16th/early 17th-century chimneyshafts at each end, staggered to the left and star-shaped to the right, with another star shaft to the rear of the rear block. On the exterior of the main rear block, a three-light window with Gothic glazing bars is present. Behind the kitchen stack, some fallen plaster reveals a large corner post and some early brick infill. The outer side of the service block has a 17th-century oak, five-light window with ovolo-moulded mullions and diamond-paned leaded glass. Previous list descriptions suggest there may be additional mullioned windows to the rear, but access was restricted.

An internal inspection was unavailable, but significant 16th and 17th-century carpentry is suspected. The farmhouse is known to contain a fine, late 17th-century oak staircase, originally from nearby Hawkwell Manor. This staircase features square newel posts with panelled sides carved with rosettes and platted cords, ball finials, a closed string with carved string, a high moulded handrail, and heavy turned vase-like balusters.

A full internal survey is recommended prior to any alterations to prevent damage to early features.