Dymond'S Farmhouse

Dymond’s Farmhouse is a 17th-century farmhouse, likely built in 1676 for Richard Bevis, son of the then owner of Bishop’s Court. The main structure is of roughcast cob on stone footings, with a 19th-century brick service end extension and a hipped thatched roof. It is a four-room house arranged in a straight block. The main entrance opens directly into the hall, with an inner room to the left and a kitchen and service room to the right; there was no original passage. The hall ceiling extends over the present passage, which may have been created by dividing it from the hall with a low screen. A brick extension, along with a barn to the rear, was added or the fifth room rebuilt in the 19th century. The hall is heated by a shallow external rear lateral stack; the inner room has an internal end fireplace, the shaft of which has been dismantled, while the kitchen is heated by a prominent external lateral rear stack. Modern stairs are located between the hall and inner room, with a secondary staircase at the rear of the service room.

The front elevation has an irregular five-window range. The eaves line is higher over the hall and inner room, with tall 19th-century two-light casement windows under pronounced brick window arches in these chambers. The kitchen and service-room chambers have 2 and 4-light mid-19th century casement windows under eyebrow eaves. The brick extension features a small two-light casement window. The ground floor windows include 2-light 19th-century casements under pronounced window arches to the inner room, hall, and kitchen, and a 17th-century stone window with an ovolo-moulded surround and mullions to the service room, with the outer lights blocked. Three doors are present, one to the left bearing a datestone ‘RB 1676’ with foliage and floral decoration above it. The rear of the house features a projecting gabled hall chamber supported by brick piers (possibly replacing wooden posts), now partially obscured by later lean-tos extending along the length of the house. Two 17th-century windows, both of two lights with ovolo-moulded stone surrounds and mullions, are present—one entirely blocked to the service room and the other to the chamber above the kitchen. A buttressed right-hand elevation is also present.

The interior, as described by Dr Alcock, includes a hall ceiling with plaster roses and florets in each compartment, and, in the service end, two ceiling beams, one featuring stop-chamfered spine beams with run-out stops. A rough stud and panel screen separates the service room from the rear stairs. The rear barn has morticed and pegged roof principals. The farmhouse remains largely unaltered since Dr Alcock’s visit.