Normans Green House

Norman’s Green House is a house dating from the mid-17th century, with renovations from the mid-19th century and modernization around 1980. The construction consists of plastered cob on stone rubble footings, with some stone rubble sections; stone rubble or cob stacks topped with 19th and 20th century brick; and a thatched roof. The original plan was a 4-room-and-through-passage layout facing north towards a crossroads. A 19th-century service extension is located at the east end, constructed of stone. Adjacent to it is a parlour with an axial stack backed onto the service room. A central passage leads in from the back, containing the main staircase. The front doorway is offset to the right, behind another unheated service room, likely originally a buttery or dairy. The kitchen is at the west end, with a gable-end stack. A broad, curving turret projects to the front and is currently used as a pantry. A partition separating the kitchen and service room has been removed, a consequence of a 19th-century reversal of the original room layout; the original kitchen was on the left, and the original parlour on the right. The turret originally housed a newel stair and the front doorway was situated at the front end of the passage there. The exterior displays a limited number of front windows: a 20th-century bay window is positioned left of center, and the remaining two are 18th or 19th century casements with rectangular panes of leaded glass. A greater number of windows are present at the rear, all 20th-century casements with glazing bars. The current front doorway, situated right of center, incorporates a 20th-century plank door behind a contemporary thatch-roofed porch. The roof is steeply half-hipped to the left and gable-ended to the right. Inside the present parlour/former kitchen, there is no crossbeam. The fireplace is now exposed and comprises a probable 18th-century brick construction with a replacement oak lintel, featuring a brick oven at the back and a well-preserved brick cream oven alongside. The joinery and detail of the passage are wholly mid-19th century. In the original parlour (now at the right end), the original crossbeam remains, chamfered with roll stops. This fireplace is blocked, although part of its oak lintel is visible, with reports of a smaller fireplace concealed in the chamber above. The roof structure consists of side-pegged jointed cruck trusses.