Grovewell Farmhouse

Grovewell Farmhouse is a farmhouse, likely formed from two cottages, probably dating to the late 16th or early 17th century, with possible earlier elements and 18th-century alterations. The construction is of plastered local stone and flint rubble, including sections of cob, with a stone rubble stack topped with 20th-century brick, and a corrugated iron roof that was formerly thatched.

The farmhouse fronts south-east and backs onto a lane, created by combining two cottages, each with a two-room plan and mirroring each other across a central axial stack. The centre rooms are larger and heated, while the smaller outer rooms are unheated. The northeastern cottage appears to be the older, possibly late 16th century, or potentially the hall and inner room of a larger 16th-century farmhouse, of which the passage and service rooms were rebuilt as the left cottage, which was itself added or rebuilt in the 18th century.

The exterior has an irregular four-window front with mostly 19th-century casement windows containing rectangular panes of leaded glass, with one 20th-century replacement casement with glazing bars. Front doorways are located at the right and left ends, leading into the unheated and heated rooms of the former cottages respectively, both with 19th-century plank doors. The roof is hipped to the left and half-hipped to the right.

The earlier features are concentrated in the former right cottage, where a full-height partition is plastered over but is reported to be oak framing and includes a round-headed doorway on the ground floor. The unheated room has plain square-section joists. The crossbeam in the larger heated room has deep chamfers with stop-chamfered spine beams with run-out stops. The central stack appears to have been rebuilt with the left cottage in the 18th century and serves back-to-back fireplaces. The right cottage fireplace, with a stone rubble front and plain oak lintel, is towards the rear and has a back oven. The left cottage fireplace is towards the front but has been reduced in size due to a passage knocked through between the two former cottages. The left cottage features plain carpentry. The roof was not accessible for inspection.