Giffords

Farmhouse. The building likely originated in the early 16th century and was remodelled in the early 17th century, with a rear wing possibly added in the 18th century. It is constructed of colourwashed rendered stone rubble with a thatched roof, gabled at the ends and half-hipped at the end of the wing. A single-storey lean-to to the rear right has a wooden shingle roof. End stacks and an axial stack are also present.

The original layout comprised a three-room and through-passage arrangement in the main range, with a lower end to the right, a hall stack backing onto the passage, and a heated inner room. An unheated rear left wing is linked by a rear right lean-to. The house’s early history is not entirely clear, but the roof timbers show soot only above the lower end, suggesting either a late 16th-century rebuilding or a reconstruction from around this time. The rear wing may have been used as a dairy or buttery during the 18th century, and the rear lean-to, probably a late 19th-century dairy, has since been converted into a kitchen.

The front elevation is asymmetrical, featuring a four-window arrangement. A front door is located to the right of the centre, leading to the passage, and there are 3, 4 and 5-light casement windows, with square leaded panes and possibly original embrasurers. On the right return, a thatched curing chamber projection adjoins the right end stack.

Internally, there is good survival of 17th-century carpentry and joinery. The lower end room has deeply-chamfered, step-stopped cross beams and an open fireplace with a chamfered lintel, stone jambs, and a 19th-century bread oven. The hall displays moulded, step-stopped cross beams and an open fireplace with a chamfered lintel. A good 2-plank door, possibly from the 16th or 17th century, is set into the rear wall. The inner room has an ovolo-moulded, stopped cross beam and a rebuilt fireplace with introduced 17th-century panelling. Original doorframes are located to the rear of the passage, as well as the rear door of the lower end room and the door from the passage to the lower end room; this last doorway features a cranked head. A similar doorway is present on the first floor. The first floor room to the left is heated with an 18th-century lintel to the fireplace, and an 18th-century cupboard door is located adjacent to the fireplace. The smoking chamber, adjacent to the stack, has a stone first floor and preserves old hooks and sooted timbers within a cupboard on the first floor.

The roof is of cruck construction. The side-pegged jointed cruck truss over the hall is not smoke-blackened. The truss over the lower end/passage partition is a full cruck (with the collar missing) and is lightly sooted on the lower end side, with slight smoke-staining potentially due to leaking through the closed truss. A collar rafter truss sits over the inner room. It’s said there was once a smoke-hole in the thatch. The property is a traditional house notable for its high-quality interior carpentry and joinery.