Woodhayne Farmhouse

Woodhayne Farmhouse is a farmhouse dating from the 16th and 17th centuries, substantially refurbished in the early 19th century, likely around 1830. It is constructed of plastered stone and flint rubble, with stone rubble and brick stacks topped with plastered 19th and 20th-century brick, and a slate roof that replaced a former thatch. The farmhouse has an L-shaped plan, with the main block built down a hillslope.

Originally, the house was likely an open hall house in the 16th century, although the roof was entirely replaced around 1830, obscuring earlier structural features. Remaining original features are from the late 16th to mid-17th centuries. The service end room was refitted as a kitchen in the early to mid-17th century, coinciding with the flooring of the hall above, likely at the same time. The inner room was converted to a kitchen around 1830, when a stack was inserted and a rear service block was added; previously, it likely served as a dairy or buttery.

The farmhouse is two storeys high and has a regular, though not symmetrical, four-window front with 20th-century casement windows with glazing bars, and similar windows to the rear. A 19th-century plank door is located in a contemporary gabled porch, centered on the passage front.

Inside, on the lower side of the passage (the former kitchen), an oak plank-and-muntin screen remains, with the headbeam exposed. Some sections of the screen may be hidden behind later plaster. In the former kitchen, a large fireplace with Beerstone ashlar jambs and a chamfered oak lintel extends over an alcove to the left, originally a walk-in curing chamber. The crossbeam in this room is chamfered with step stops. The hall features a fireplace with Beerstone ashlar jambs and oak lintel, with the ceiling divided into four panels of intersecting beams with deep chamfers. The inner room has a 19th-century brick kitchen fireplace, but retains a mid-to-late 16th-century axial beam with deep chamfers and step stops. The roof and carpentry details of the rear block date from around 1830 and are of a plainer design.