Hopping Farmhouse

Farmhouse. Dating back to the 17th century, with a possible earlier core, one end was rebuilt in the early 19th century and the remainder modernized at the same time. The original part is constructed of plastered cob on stone rubble footings; it features cob or stone rubble stacks topped with 19th-century brick, and a thatched roof. The early 19th-century section is of plastered brick, with a brick stack and a slate roof. The house is oriented south and has a 3-room and through-passage plan, with the inner room located at the right (eastern) end. The inner room has an end stack, while the hall has an axial stack backing onto the inner room. The service end room was rebuilt in the early 19th century, higher than the rest of the house, and includes a large axial stack between the main room and a small store or dairy. A winder stair turret projects to the rear near the upper end of the hall. In the 19th century, a corridor was created along the rear of the hall and outshots were built or rebuilt along the back. The front facade has six windows. The four-window front of the lower, older section originally featured 18th-century casement windows; these are mostly 3-light, except for a 2-light window over the door, and contain rectangular panes of old leaded glass. Only the ground floor right window currently has a replacement casement with glazing bars. The first-floor windows in this section have low thatch eyebrows above them. Sloping buttresses are located between the windows, with another at the right end. The front passage doorway contains a late 19th-century 4-panel door, the top panels of which are glazed. The two-window section to the left, the rebuilt section, contains 19th-century casements with glazing bars under low segmental arches. The roof is gable-ended to the right, with the slate section being higher than the thatch and hipped at the end. The interior largely reflects the early 19th-century modernization but appears to be largely superficial in the passage, hall, and inner room. The hall has a 17th-century crossbeam, soffit-chamfered with scroll stops. The crossbeam in the inner room is boxed in. Both hall and inner room fireplaces are blocked by good 19th-century grates with marble chimneypieces. The 19th-century service end room has a large brick kitchen fireplace, and a soffit-chamfered crossbeam with run-out stops. The roofspace is inaccessible, but the feet of the principals suggest the lower roof is composed of 17th-century A-frame trusses. Hopping Farmhouse is a good 17th-century farmhouse, improved in the early 19th century and retaining its character since then. Future modernization work should be carried out with care, as it is likely that 17th-century, or even earlier, features will be discovered.