Hitts Farmhouse Including Barn Adjoining To East

This is a farmhouse with a barn adjoining it to the east. The farmhouse likely originated in the 16th century and was substantially improved in the 17th century, with some 19th-century modernization. It is constructed of plastered cob on stone rubble footings, with the front face appearing as lightly incised ashlar. The stacks are stone rubble topped with 19th-century brick, and the roof is thatched, with a small section replaced with slate.

The original plan was a 3-room-and-through-passage layout, built across a hillslope facing south. A parlour at the west end has a projecting gable-end stack, though it was reduced in size during the 19th century when a staircase was inserted. The hall has a rear projecting lateral stack, and the rear of the passage is blocked by a secondary staircase. The kitchen, situated at the right end, features a front lateral stack and a large oven housing. The exterior displays an irregular, 4-window front with late 19th to early 20th-century casement windows with glazing bars. Two front doorways exist: a later insertion leading to the staircase on the left, and a doorway to the passage on the right. The right end of the farmhouse is hidden behind a 19th-century farmbuilding that includes a pumphouse. The main roof is gable-ended to the left and hipped down onto the roof of the adjoining barn.

Internally, the farmhouse shows mostly 19th and 20th-century modernization, which appear to be largely superficial, preserving the original layout. Ground floor carpentry is of the 17th century style, with chamfered and scroll-stopped crossbeams in the hall and kitchen. The parlour crossbeam is concealed by plaster. All fireplaces are blocked by 19th and 20th-century grates.

Adjoining the right (east) end is a barn that is likely from the 17th century, although it underwent significant rebuilding in the 19th century. It is constructed of cob on stone rubble footings, with sections rebuilt in 19th-century English bond brick. The roof is tiled, formerly thatched. It features opposing full-height doorways onto the threshing floor, slightly left (west) of centre, with short projecting midstrey walls flanking the front doorway. A hayloft loading hatch is in the right end wall, and there is a former horse engine projecting to the rear, its walls rebuilt with 20th-century concrete blocks. The barn’s roof is hipped, and contains a cider press and an apple loft, supported by 19th-century A-frame trusses.