Little Dunks Farmhouse

Farmhouse. Dating to the mid-to-late 17th century, with an addition built around the late 18th century. The building has a timber frame, with the ground floor constructed in Flemish bond brick and the first floor tile-hung with bands of scalloped tiles. It has a peg-tile roof and end stacks with brick shafts.

The original layout was a two-cell design, featuring a larger, heated hall/kitchen to the left (west), with a smaller, unheated service room to the right (east). The staircase is located against the rear wall of the service room. A rear outshut may have been built as an integral part of the original building or could have been added later. Around the late 18th century, a third room was added to the right end, likely a parlour, and it is heated by a separate end stack.

From the south-facing front, the building presents a symmetrical three-window facade. The roof is gabled at the left end and half-hipped at the right end. A late 19th or early 20th century front door leads into the unheated room, now with a 20th-century porch/conservatory. The windows are 20th-century casements set into enlarged window openings. The rear (north) elevation has a catslide roof extending over the outshut, which features a large, flat-roofed dormer at the east end.

Inside, the rear wall retains its original timber framing with jowled wall posts, surviving down to the sole plate. The larger of the two original ground-floor rooms has exposed ceiling carpentry, including a scroll-stopped axial beam. A 20th-century chimney piece may cover an earlier fireplace. The first floor rooms also retain exposed ceiling beams, and several late 17th or early 18th century ledged doors remain throughout the house, complete with original latches and hinges.

The roof timbers are said to be original, but the roof has not been inspected. The building is a modestly-scaled traditional house characteristic of the area, and has group value with the oasthouse immediately to the north east.