Frieze Farmhouse

Frieze Farmhouse is a farmhouse that likely has a core dating back to the late 17th century and was expanded in the 18th and early 19th centuries. It has an irregular L-shaped plan. The building is made of coursed limestone rubble with squared dressings and features a concrete tile roof. To the left, there is an early 19th-century timber-framed bay that is tile-hung and has a slate roof.

The farmhouse is two storeys high. The original two-unit structure has a gable chimney on the left, which has been rebuilt in brick. The first floor has one- and three-light windows with flat stone arches. The central entrance has a door flanked by single-light windows, with an earlier blocked door to the right. The right gable features two- and three-light windows on the first floor and a three-light window on the ground floor. Several windows are leaded and date from the 18th century. The right-hand wing, likely built in the late 18th century, has three-light segmental-arched casements facing left and two-light casements facing right, along with a gable-end brick chimney. The early to mid-19th-century bay on the left has 12-pane sash windows with architraves and a shallow hipped slate roof. At the rear, there is a single-storey range with a catslide roof, made of stone and consisting of at least two phases, both later than the original building but earlier than the tile-hung range.

Inside, the original chimney retains its internal coarse plaster lining, which may be original. Most internal doors, skirting boards, and fittings are from the 18th and 19th centuries. The right-hand wing features 19th-century wall cupboards on either side of the gable fireplace. A good quality early 20th-century free-standing oak staircase and landing were introduced to the farmhouse from another building. There is a cellar, which has not been seen, reported to be under the right end of the original building.

Frieze Farmhouse is a notable example of a modest vernacular building from late 17th-century Oxfordshire, which was expanded in the 18th and 19th centuries to become a typical farmhouse. It has undergone little alteration since then and retains a good range of original fixtures and fittings.