Yard Farmhouse

Yard Farmhouse is an early 16th-century farmhouse, significantly altered in the mid-16th and 17th centuries and refurbished in the early 19th century. It is constructed of local stone and flint rubble, with plastering on the front elevation, stone rubble stacks topped with 19th-century brick, and a slate roof, originally thatched. The original plan was a three-room layout facing north-east, with an inner room parlour at the south-east end featuring a gable-end stack. Adjacent is the hall, with an axial stack backing onto a former unheated room, now the kitchen, at the right end. The staircase rises from the hall along the front of the parlour. A dairy block projects to the rear of the kitchen.

The original house was open to the roof, partitioned by low walls, and heated by an open hearth. In the mid-16th century, the inner room was floored over. The hall was heated by an open hearth, and the axial stack was inserted in the mid to late 16th century, likely when the service end was also floored over. The hall was floored over in the early 17th century. The inner room was enlarged in the early 19th century when it was converted to a parlour; the gable-end stack was built, and the staircase added. A plaque on the hall stack bears the date 1624, likely marking the flooring of the hall rather than the actual insertion of the stack.

The house is two storeys high, with a 20th-century garage situated in front of the parlour and hall. The exterior has only two first-floor front windows and one ground-floor window, all 20th-century casements with no glazing bars. Similar windows are present to the rear. A plank door, concealed behind a 20th-century gabled porch, occupies the former passage doorway, located to the right of centre. The roof is gable-ended to the left and hipped to the right.

The present kitchen shows no original carpentry due to rebuilding; however, the blocked hall fireplace retains evidence of its large size and features deeply chamfered crossbeams with stop-chamfered spine beams with run-out stops. An oak plank-and-muntin screen, with chamfered muntins cut to accommodate a bench, is visible in the parlour. The parlour has no exposed carpentry, and all the joinery, including the staircase, is early 19th century. The roof over the hall and adjoining part over the parlour is supported by two jointed crucks which are papered over below the ceiling and are smoke-blackened, indicating previous use of an open hearth. The oak-framed crosswall over the hall/parlour screen is sooted only on the hall side. A circa-1700 two-panel door provides access between the hall and passage chambers.