Thorne Farmhouse, Including Cob Walls Adjoining To South And East

Farmhouse. Dating from the mid-to-late 17th century, with an 18th-century extension and refurbishment in the mid-19th century. The original farmhouse is constructed of plastered cob on rubble footings, with stone rubble or cob stacks topped with 20th-century brick. It has a thatched roof. The original house has an unusual three-room plan facing south, featuring a central, unheated entrance hall with a 20th-century staircase, a parlour to the right, and a kitchen to the left. End stacks are present. Rear outshots may be original. A one-room extension was added in the 18th century to the left (west) end, with a 20th-century rear lateral stack. The front of the main block has a four-window arrangement, although it is not symmetrical, with mainly 19th-century casement windows with glazing bars, including a 24-pane sash window on the ground floor to the right. A centrally located main door now contains 20th-century French windows, while at the left end is a secondary doorway with a 19th-century part-glazed four-panel door. Both doorways have 19th-century low-pitch gabled porches with wrought iron frames featuring restrained scrollwork. The main porch is slightly more ornate than the secondary porch. The extension to the left has a one-window front, featuring a first-floor horizontal sliding sash window with glazing bars and a 20th-century door. The roof is gable-ended to the right; the eaves and ridge drop in level from the main house to the extension, where the roof has a half-hipped end. The interior of the main block retains mostly 17th and 18th-century features where exposed. The kitchen and central entrance hall have soffit-chamfered and scroll-stopped crossbeams. The kitchen includes a blocked 19th-century chimney piece and grate, along with three early cupboards: a 17th-century cupboard to the right of the fireplace with a panelled door on butterfly hinges, a large 18th-century cupboard with fielded panel doors on H-hinges in the rear wall, and a smaller 18th-century version in a cob crosswall. Another 18th-century cupboard is located in the front wall of the entrance lobby. The parlour was refurbished in the 19th century, concealing earlier features, and includes a 20th-century chimney piece, a 19th-century dado, and a tall, round-headed cupboard with panelled doors. The roof is inaccessible, but the feet of the principals suggest the survival of original A-frame trusses. The extension has a roughly-finished crossbeam, waney in places, and an 18th-century A-frame roof truss with pegged lap-jointed collar and X-apex. The property was named North Thorne on Ordnance Survey maps.