Woodhayes Farmhouse

Woodhayes Farmhouse is a farmhouse dating from the early 17th century, with potential earlier origins; it has undergone 19th and 20th century modernization. The walls are plastered cob on stone rubble footings, with stone rubble and brick stacks, the latter topped with 19th and 20th century brickwork, and a thatched roof, with tiling to the kitchen outshot. The farmhouse was originally a 4-room-and-through-passage plan house, built down a slope, facing south. A 19th century office extension is located at the west end with a front lateral stack. A small room contains the main staircase, and the former hall has an axial stack backing onto this room. The original layout may have been a 2 or 3-room-and-through-passage plan. The house was likely floored throughout from the beginning. The inaccessible roof space might reveal evidence of an earlier open hall house. Originally, only the hall/living room was heated. A 19th century brick stack is a later addition to the east end. The farmhouse is two storeys high with lean-to outshots to the rear. The front elevation has an irregular arrangement of late 19th or early 20th century mullion-and-transom windows in a 17th century style, featuring internal ovolo mouldings and external chamfers. Three gabled half-dormers, with shaped bargeboards, are present on the first floor to the right. A late 19th or early 20th century panelled door sits behind a contemporary gabled porch, set in the passage front doorway. A secondary front doorway is situated near the left end, leading into the office extension. The roof is half-hipped to the left and hipped to the right. Inside, the original 17th century carpentry details are exposed throughout the main part of the house. Both main rooms have chamfered crossbeams with run-out stops. Much of the oak plank-and-muntin screen partitioning the passage has been removed, although the upper side partition remains. The original hall fireplace has been blocked, but its larger size and chamfered oak lintel are still visible. The main block roof, excluding the office extension, rests on side-pegged jointed cruck trusses. The inaccessible roofspace contains original features.