Batt'S Farmhouse

Batt's Farmhouse is a detached house, likely dating from the late 15th century, and significantly altered in the late 16th and 17th centuries. The external walls are roughcast cob, built on stone footings, with a gable-ended asbestos tiled roof. Originally designed as a 3-room plan with a through-passage, the service wing is located to the right of the passage. The original medieval roof structure remains over the hall, and it’s clear that the house was initially open to the roof. The inner room, which later included an end stack, was possibly the first part of the house to gain a first floor. The hall is heated by an internal rear lateral stack, with a brick shaft. The service wing was floored and an end stack inserted in the 17th century. A newel post at the rear of the hall marks the original location of the 17th-century staircase. The house is two storeys high. The front elevation has a four-window range. The first floor contains 3 and 4-light casement windows (dating to the 19th century). The ground floor has five 2, 3, and 4-light casement windows, some 19th-century replacements, and two doors sheltered by tiled canopies. The rear elevation contains five first-floor windows and one early 19th-century pegged casement window on the ground floor. A pantiled lean-to is also present. Inside the inner room, there are one full and two half-axial ceiling beams, which are chamfered with roll stops. The fireplace has a timber lintel and jambs with a continuous chamfer. The through-passage has been removed, creating a large room on the site of the original hall, featuring cross ceiling beams, chamfered with hollow step stops. The service wing has three axial ceiling beams. The central beam rests on a chamfered post. A blocked fireplace, with evidence of a former bake oven, is also present. The roof over the hall retains two jointed crucks, both side-pegged. The apex carpentry differs on each side; one has a saddle, the other a yoke and a cranked collar, both supporting a diagonal ridge piece. The service end incorporates two much later roof trusses that are halved, crossed, and pegged at the apex.