Lower Idstone Farmhouse And Rose Cottage Adjoining

The farmhouse and Rose Cottage, adjoining the farmhouse, date from the early to mid 18th century, with a significant rebuild during that period. A datestone marked BEB 1595 at the rear indicates an earlier building phase. The main farmhouse is constructed of uncoursed sarsen rubble and coursed squared chalk, with brick dressings and a stone slate roof. It has a central staircase plan and a symmetrical 5-window, 2-storey facade. The front door is a mid-19th century 4-panelled door within a brick segmental arch, featuring the initials IR above it and a late 20th-century flat hood. Mid-19th century horned sash windows are similarly set within brick segmental arches, with a brick band in Flemish bond. The roof is gabled and incorporates a mid-18th century ridge stack and a late 19th-century rear lateral stack. A mid-19th century dairy lean-to extends from the rear right wall. Rose Cottage, a thatched, 1 1/2-storey cottage, is attached to the right gable end. It is built of sarsen and chalk rubble, brought to course, with chalk block quoins and a thatched roof. The cottage has a 2-window facade with a late 19th-century plank door within a brick segmental arch, and early 20th-century two-light casement windows also within brick segmental arches. The main farmhouse incorporates earlier fabric, notably chalk quoins, and brick quoins were added from floor level to eaves when the house was heightened in the mid-19th century.