Hummer Farmhouse

Hummer Farmhouse is a detached farmhouse with a complex history, dating back to the late 15th century. The original west half was an open hall, which was ceiled in the late 16th century when stacks were inserted. The house was extended to the east in the mid 17th century, and a north-east service wing was also added during this period, with further alterations in the 19th century. A north-west service wing, originally a cider house and store, was constructed in the late 18th century or later.

The house is built with dressed stone walls to the front range, blue lias to the north-west range, and rubble stone to the north-east range. The roofs are thatched with gable ends and stone gable-copings, except for the north-east range, which has a Roman-tile roof. There are stone stacks with cornices at the left-hand gable and at the ridge, right of centre, and a brick stack at the right-hand gable. The farmhouse is two storeys and attics, with four windows to the front range on the first floor. The windows have 4-light hollow-chamfered stone mullions with separate labels, wooden casements, and fixed glazed lights. Some windows have 3-light mullions without labels. The front doorway, situated left of centre, features moulded jambs, a depressed-arch head, and a separate label. The wooden door has glazed lights in its upper half, with panelled reveals. The north-east wing incorporates a 20th-century stack on its rear gable, and has 2-light wooden casements with wooden cills and lintels. The north-west wing has three windows with 3-light wooden casements and a 20th-century French window at the centre.

The interior retains a mid-12th century doorway, reset from the central hall to a room on the right-hand side, facing east. This doorway is notable for its stone nook-shafts, scallop-capitals with T-shaped cushions, and round arch of eight voussoirs with roll-moulding, open chevron, and outer roll-moulding. The hall has six-compartmented ceilings with 4½-inch flat chamfers, while the east room has three cross-beams with 4½-inch flat chamfers. Several fireplaces are present; the parlour (west room) has a small, open fireplace with moulded stone jambs and a stopped and depressed-arch head, dating to the 16th century. The hall fireplace has straight-chamfered jambs, an original straight-chamfered cambered wood lintel, and a rough stone hearth, also from the 16th century. The east room has renewed chamfered cut-stone jambs and a cambered wood lintel, dating to the 20th century. Oven and stair positions have been removed. A fireplace in the first-floor west bedroom exhibits moulded jambs, a depressed arch head, and is dated to the late 16th century. The roofs feature heavy collar-beam construction with face-pegged joints in the front range, and a solid masonry wall within the roof indicating a former gable end. The north-west wing has 18th-century collar beam construction with halved collars and diagonal struts. Flagstone floors are found in the hall and west room. There is an attached brick and stone wall along the front garden, coped and featuring a central 17th-century gate entrance.