Avenhayes

Avenhayes is a house with late Medieval origins, significantly remodelled and extended around the early 17th century. It is constructed of whitewashed and rendered cob on stone footings, with a thatched roof featuring a plain ridge, half-hipped at the left end, gabled at the right end, and a hipped wing at the end. Axial and right-end stacks are present, both with rendered shafts.

The house retains an interesting historic plan, displaying an overall "L" shape. The main range has a four-room arrangement and a through passage. To the left of the passage lies the hall, with a hall stack backing onto it and an unheated inner room to the extreme left. To the right of the passage is a small unheated service room, with an axial passage providing access to a heated lower end room. A single-room, unheated wing extends at right angles from the lower end. The original medieval structure was an open hall, of which one smoke-blackened jointed cruck survives over the hall. The house was likely remodelled and extended in the 17th century, creating the central service room plan. The right-hand room appears to have been partly rebuilt.

The exterior presents an attractive, long, asymmetrical four-window front, with eyebrowed thatch eaves arching over the two first-floor windows. A slightly recessed front door, approximately central, features a 17th-century chamfered doorframe with a cambered lintel and a 17th-century plank and stud front door with large strap hinges. Windows are 2- and 3-light casements with small panes, likely from the 19th or 20th century.

Inside, the house boasts rich carpentry and joinery character. The hall has moulded ceiling beams and joists, a plank and muntin screen at the higher end with chamfered muntins with run-out stops, and an open fireplace with replaced Beerstone jambs and a lintel. The inner room to the left has a chamfered crossbeam and exposed joists. The passage shows a doorway with a round-headed chamfered frame into the hall and good doorframes into the unheated service room and the axial passage. The service room is defined by plank and muntin screens on three sides, and the lower end room has a re-used crossbeam and a rebuilt fireplace. The rear wing has a chamfered stopped crossbeam. The staircase rises from the through passage, cutting into the rear of the unheated service room. A side-pegged jointed cruck truss remains above the hall, with sooted principals and rafters, while the rest of the roof in the main range is likely late 17th century. The wing’s roof is a face-pegged jointed cruck structure, probably from the early 17th century, with the apex not visible during the survey. This is an evolved house of Medieval origins, presenting an attractively simple exterior, incorporating good interior features and a historic plan form.