Mill House

Mill House is a farmhouse of late 15th- to early 16th-century origin, situated in the hamlet of Farway. The building has undergone significant changes over the centuries, including substantial early 17th-century rearrangement and partial rebuilding, a 19th-century coach house wing, and comprehensive renovation circa 1976.

The structure is built of exposed local stone and flint rubble, with stone rubble chimneys topped with 19th and 20th-century brick. The roof is covered in red tile, formerly thatch. The building follows an L-plan, with the main block facing north-west and a coach house block projecting at right angles to the front of the left end.

The main block is two storeys throughout and contains a 4-room-and-through-passage plan. To the left (north-east) of the passage are two rooms, with part of the ground floor partition between them removed. The smaller end room is unheated, while the first room has an axial stack backing onto the passage. To the right (south-west) of the passage lies a former kitchen with an axial stack and a parlour with a gable-end stack.

The architectural history reveals that the house was substantially reordered in the early 17th century, at which time the principal rooms were relocated from the left to the right end of the house. The service end was originally open to the roof and heated by an open hearth fire. A full-height partition was subsequently built between the two service rooms while the open hearth was still in use. The former hall fireplace and ceiling may date from before this reorganisation. In the early 17th century, the lower end was completely rebuilt to create a new kitchen and parlour.

The exterior features an irregular four-window front, mostly with circa 1976 replacement casements containing leaded glass. Two earlier oak-framed windows survive at first floor level: an early 17th-century 2-light window with a chamfered mullion and an 18th-century 3-light window with flat-faced mullions. Other windows around the house are similar circa 1976 replacement casements. The passage front doorway is positioned left of centre and contains a 20th-century door. The garage doors beneath a continuous hood are also 20th-century. The main roof is gable-ended to the right and hipped to the left. The coach house roof is half-hipped.

Internally, the stone rubble partition along the left side of the passage contains an early 17th-century oak Tudor arch doorway opening to the heated service room. The fireplace here is plain and of indeterminate date. The crossbeam is late 16th- to early 17th-century with broad chamfers. The mid-16th-century full-height crosswall between the two service rooms is of large oak framing. The right side of the passage features an early 17th-century full-height crosswall with an oak plank-and-muntin screen in the passage and oak close-studded framing above.

Both kitchen and parlour contain Beerstone ashlar fireplaces with chamfered oak lintels, though the kitchen fireplace is larger and includes an oven. The crossbeams over both rooms are chamfered with lambstongue stops.

The roof structure contains one original truss that survives above the service rooms, later closed by the partition between them. Its lower principals are plastered over but it appears to be a jointed cruck type. At the apex is a small yoke providing a seating for a square-set ridge (Alcock's apex type H). The timber is smoke-blackened from the open hearth fire, as is the inside face of the framed infill. The rest of the main block roof is carried on early 17th-century clean side-pegged jointed cruck trusses.

The 19th-century coach house block (now converted to garages) was rebuilt circa 1976 using some old timbers, and the haylofts above were brought into domestic use at that time. Mill House forms part of an attractive group of listed buildings comprising the hamlet of Farway.