Holwell Farmhouse

Holwell Farmhouse is a farmhouse with origins dating back to the early 16th century, significantly remodelled in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, with some late 18th-century refurbishment and 20th-century renovations. The construction combines whitewashed rendered cob and stone with a slate roof, originally thatched, gabled at the ends. It features an axial brick stack and a stone stack at the right end.

The original layout was a late medieval open hall extending to the left of the axial stack. This hall was subsequently divided into two rooms with two open hearths. Around the late 16th century, the building was floored and either remodelled or extended to the right of the axial stack, creating the current main range with a large inner room. The rear outshuts are likely from the 18th century, and the lower end room was refurbished around the late 18th century. A section of the inner room has been partitioned to create a store room to the rear and a small, unheated chamber to the front.

The front façade presents an asymmetrical appearance with five windows. It features a circa early 17th-century studded door with replaced panels and an ovolo-moulded doorframe, positioned to the right of centre. A 20th-century door provides access to the inner room on the left. The windows are mostly 3- and 4-light casements with 19th or 20th-century glazing, with the hall and lower room windows likely featuring 18th-century frames. The rear elevation incorporates a 3-light timber mullioned stair window with ovolo mouldings.

Inside, significant carpentry and joinery survive. The inner room and hall retain deeply-chamfered step-stopped crossbeams. The hall's large open fireplace has a chamfered lintel, hearth seats, and a bread oven, with a cream oven located at the left end. The lower end room has a late 18th-century decorated plaster cornice and an open-fronted china cupboard. The staircase at the rear of the passage divides at the landing, featuring turned balusters and an open string, likely dating from the mid to late 17th century. There’s a first-floor chamfered stopped doorframe, several doors with HL hinges (both first and ground floors), and a jointed cruck roof over the left end of the range with smoke-blackened timbers and wattle and daub infill. The trusses to the right of the axial stack are A frames with curved end collars, as noted by Hulland.