Richards Farmhouse

Richards Farmhouse is a farmhouse dating from the early to mid 16th century, with substantial alterations in the later 16th and 17th centuries, and some late 19th-century modifications. The walls are primarily plastered cob on stone rubble footings, with the rear block partially rebuilt in 19th-century brick; the roof is slate, originally thatched. The plan is L-shaped. The main block faces north-east and has a three-room-and-through-passage layout. At the north-west end is an inner room parlour with a gable-end stack. Adjacent is the hall with an axial stack backing onto the passage. To the south-west, a small unheated service room, likely a dairy or buttery originally, is located. A kitchen block projects at right angles to the rear of the left end, overlapping the rear of the passage, and has its own gable-end stack. The roof of the main block is not original, obscuring early structural details. It appears the house initially may have been an open hall house, possibly heated by an open hearth. The hall fireplace was likely inserted in the mid to late 16th century, and the room was floored over in the early or mid 17th century. The inner room was refurbished or rebuilt as a parlour around the same time. The kitchen block also dates from the early or mid 17th century. The house is two storeys high, with secondary service outshots at the rear of the hall and parlour. Externally, the front has an irregular three-window arrangement with late 19th and 20th-century casements containing glazing bars. The passage front doorway is situated left of centre, flanked by sloping brick buttresses and contains a late 19th-century part-glazed panelled door. The roof is gable-ended. Inside, the lower (service room) side of the passage is lined with an oak plank-and-muntin screen, which may be an original low partition screen. The timbers are of large scantling, and the screen features a large Tudor arch doorway with chamfered spine beams with run-out stops. The hall fireplace has panelled Beerstone ashlar jambs and a chamfered oak lintel, containing an inserted clom oven. Both the hall and parlour have chamfered crossbeams. A second oak plank-and-muntin screen separates the hall and parlour, visible only on the parlour side. The parlour fireplace has a plastered chamfered oak lintel with scroll stops. An 18th-century cupboard with shaped shelves is located alongside the fireplace. The blocked kitchen fireplace in the rear block retains a chamfered and step-stopped oak lintel, although the plain crossbeam is a replacement. The roof over the main house is supported by 18th or 19th-century A-frame trusses, while the kitchen block roof has 17th-century side-pegged jointed cruck trusses.