Tamarisk Farmhouse

Tamarisk Farmhouse is a farmhouse dating from the 18th century, with an extension added in the mid-19th century. It is constructed of stone rubble that is roughly brought to course and is colour washed on the east side. The building features a gabled dry slate roof with brick end stacks, with the stacks on the 18th-century section having stone bases from the same period.

The original 18th-century house has a two-room central-entry plan and has been incorporated into a larger mid-19th-century parallel range to the west, creating a double-depth plan. There is also a west dairy outshut.

The exterior is two storeys high. The lower 18th-century front has a two-window range with stone lintels above late 19th-century one-over-one pane sash windows, and a central plank door with a rendered porch that has a 20th-century half-glazed door. The west front features stone lintels over horned two-over-two pane sash windows and a 20th-century door at the south end of the outshut.

Inside, the cast range retains pegged trusses that are probably from the 15th century, made from reused wreckwood. The left-hand room has a granite fireplace and a boarded ceiling with ship timbers used for the joists, while the right-hand room has a boarded ceiling with sawn joists, with the fireplace concealed behind studwork. The interior also includes 18th and 19th-century joinery, such as panelled doors.

The Hicks family has owned the farmhouse since they settled on the islands at the beginning of the 18th century. The older part of the farmhouse was used as a post office and general store until the First World War, making it an unusual example of domestic vernacular architecture that predates the improvements made on the islands in the mid-19th century and later.