Denbow Thatch

Denbow Thatch is a house with origins in the early to mid 16th century, extended in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, and significantly rebuilt in the late 17th century. It was modernised in the 19th century and extensively refurbished around 1980 when it was separated from the main farmhouse. The construction is primarily plastered cob on rubble footings, with sections rebuilt in 19th-century brick and concrete blocks from around 1980. It has a thatched roof, with slate covering a workshop and porch added around 1980.

The house faces south-east, adjoining the left end of Denbow Farmhouse. A gable end belongs to a former kitchen crosswing, which projects neither front nor back from a former barn to the left. The barn roof aligns with the main farmhouse and now contains two rooms and the staircase. A single-story workshop and entrance lobby projects at right angles and was mostly rebuilt in 1980, although one earlier cob wall remains. The former kitchen has a large, projecting rear stack with a small gabled lobby alongside Denbow Farmhouse. The front has an irregular three-window facade of circa 1980 casements with glazing bars, punctuated by the gable-ended workshop. A shallow projecting bay sits to the left of French windows, and the thatch rises over first-floor half-dormers. The gable end of the crosswing is plastered brick with low segmental arches over the windows. The end of the former barn roof is half-hipped and slightly lower than the kitchen roof. The workshop has 1980 casements and a slate-roofed porch. All the rear windows are also similar 1980 casements.

The interior was extensively modernised around 1980. The former kitchen features a late 16th to early 17th century crossbeam, stop-chamfered with run-out stops. The fireplace is late 17th century brick with a plain oak lintel; the ovens were relined in the late 19th century. Above this room is a roof carried on a 19th-century king post truss, but within the front gable there is an early to mid 16th century jointed cruck truss, darkened by smoke, which indicates the original house had an open roof and an open hearth fire. Original extensions once extended further forward. The former barn was converted to domestic use around 1980 and is mostly rebuilt, although it retains a late 16th to early 17th century side-pegged jointed cruck roof truss.