Kings Farm

Kings Farm

This house was built in 1460 as a cruck-framed, four-bay open hall house, and is oriented on a north to south axis. The hall was ceiled over and a brick chimney stack inserted around 1555. The building has undergone alterations in the 17th century, an 18th-century cross wing was added to the north, and further changes were made in the 19th and 20th centuries.

The structure is built with an oak cruck frame. The external walls are of brick laid in Flemish bond, with some timber-framing to the northern two bays of the east elevation. The west elevation of the principal range has been rendered. The roof to the southern two bays is covered in clay pantiles, while the roof to the northern two bays and the cross wing is thatched. Windows are timber-framed mullion and transom windows, and casement windows; most are 20th century, although there is one 17th-century mullion and transom window to the east elevation and a re-used circa 1800 casement window to the northern dormer of the west elevation. The dormers themselves are all late 20th-century insertions. Brick chimney stacks are present throughout.

The plan comprises a four-bay cruck-framed house with a central axial chimney stack between the second and third bay, and a gable end stack to the south end. To the north end is an 18th-century cross wing with a central axial stack and a room to either side.

On the exterior, the west elevation is of one and a half storeys. The east elevation is comprised of, to the left, a slightly set forward two-storey, two-bay symmetrical arrangement with segmental heads to the ground floor openings. To the right, the exterior returns to one and a half storeys and has an irregular arrangement featuring a six-panelled door and a 17th-century mullion and transom window. The timber-framing retains a horizontal rail and some of the upright posts that are likely to relate to the original mid-15th-century phase of construction. To the north end is the 18th-century cross wing built of rubble stone to its east wall, with a timber-framed north wall with brick infill panels, and a brick west and south wall. The west wall, which has a half-hipped roof, includes graffiti from the 18th century onwards.

The interior includes four full cruck trusses, with original purlins which rest directly on the back of the cruck trusses to the western side of all four bays, and the northern two bays of the eastern side. The wind braces beneath the purlins have been removed but mortice holes on the crucks and evidence for lap joints on the purlins remain. The trusses each have a collar, with that to the truss over the former open hall being cranked with mortice holes for substantial arch braces beneath. Each truss is different in form above the collar. The northern truss supports a half hip of which a significant proportion of the timbers survive; the two central trusses are extended to reach the E-type apex; and the southern truss is a two-tier arrangement with an additional collar at attic level (K-type apex) with the secondary curved braces rising to a scissor apex (D-type). The four trusses are smoke-blackened, with the heaviest blackening to the truss over the open hall. To this truss, beneath the apex, is wattle and daub infill which is concealed on its north side by the later inserted stack. The two bays to the north of this truss retain all elements of their original roof structure, including all of the common rafters with the woven wattles in between that support the lower layers of the original thatched roof; all is heavily smoke-blackened.

The south bay of the former open hall has an inserted brick chimney stack with an associated fireplace of chamfered stone jambs with a chamfered timber bressumer with run-out stops. The inserted ceiling dates to 1555 and comprises an axial spine beam with run-out stops at its north end, and half beams in the west and north wall with the same stops. The original square section joists survive with slight chamfers to their outer edges. The ceiling in the lower end of the hall is of thin scantling and irregular sized beams and likely to be a later modification, perhaps of 17th-century date. There is a 17th-century fireplace arrangement with a possible 17th-century timber bressumer, and a 17th-century plank door with associated door furniture. The first floor has original mid-16th-century floorboards and retains some of its mid-16th-century timber-framed partition walls.

The building includes 19th-century fixtures and fittings, including joinery and fireplaces. The staircases at either end of the house, and in the 18th-century cross wing, are 19th and 20th-century modifications.