Elmhurst

Elmhurst is a former farmhouse dating to around the mid-17th century, with alterations in the late 17th and early 18th centuries and 20th-century renovations. The structure is of framed construction, with a brick ground floor in Flemish bond and a tile-hung first floor, covered by a peg-tile roof. Brick stacks are present.

The house faces north. Originally, it comprised a two-room main block with a lobby entrance, the two principal rooms being heated by back-to-back fireplaces contained within an axial stack. An integral rear outshut provided a service room and a stair cell containing a dog-leg staircase. A single-room rear left wing, likely slightly later, may have functioned as a purpose-built kitchen, heated from an end stack. A small, unheated room at the left (east) end of the main block is a later 17th/early 18th-century addition. The compact plan and the quality of the fireplaces and internal carpentry suggest it was once occupied by someone of gentry status.

The exterior presents a two-storey, asymmetrical three-window front, though it is symmetrical on the right. The tile-hanging changes level to denote the left-end addition. A 20th-century half-glazed door, with a glazed overlight and a flat porch hood supported by brackets, sits to the right of centre. Flanking the front door are 20th-century three-light casement windows, with two panes per light. The left-hand bay has one ground floor and one first floor casement, with no glazing bars to the lights. The roof is half-hipped at the ends. The axial stack has a staggered triple shaft with tile-hung batters, and the top of the shaft incorporates a renewed corbelled brick cornice. The rear elevation features 19th and 20th-century windows, including a French window. The rear wing has stone footings, and its end stack has a shaft with a corbelled brick cornice.

Inside, there are high-quality 17th-century features. One of the heated rooms has a scroll-stopped lintel. The stair cell has three good 17th-century doors set in moulded frames with bar stops, and a staircase with turned balusters. The rear wing features a scroll-stopped ceiling beam, exposed chamfered stopped joists, a fireplace with brick jambs and an oak lintel. The two first-floor fireplaces have stone jambs, one featuring a stone lintel.

The roof is a staggered butt-purlin roof with two phases of construction. A timber in the roof over the left-end addition bears the date 1717 upside down.

Elmhurst is a high-quality 17th-century house with an interesting plan and good interior features.