Horseshoe House

Horseshoe House is an early 16th-century farmhouse, later adapted for residential use. It was remodelled in the late 16th/early 17th century and again in the 1970s. The house is timber-framed, with a limestone rubble plinth. Many of the original timbers are not in their original positions, with the exception of those in the cross wing, which features arch braces, brick infill, and limestone rubble cladding to the front gable and the ground floor of the right side wall. It has a gabled thatched roof, a stone ridge stack, and an external end stack to the rear of the cross wing. The house is a hall house with a through-passage adjoining the cross wing on the right. It has one storey and an attic and a 3-window range. There is a 20th-century door and casement windows. Chamfered and arched doorframes are present at the front and rear of the through-passage entries. Inside, the wing to the right has two collar trusses with windbraces. The hall range contains two heavily smoke-blackened queen-post trusses with clasped purlins flanking a stack that backs onto the through-passage. Before the stack and floor were inserted in the late 16th/early 17th century, these trusses framed a smoke bay (a rare survival), and traces of a heck are visible at the rear. The truss to the left was not inspected. The house is perhaps the birthplace of John Piers, Archbishop of York (1589-94), and his father's inventory reflects the house’s layout (Berkshire Record Office, MS Wills, Berks. 8 J.130JJ).