Champerhaies Farmhouse

Champerhaies Farmhouse is a late 16th-century farmhouse, with later alterations. It is constructed of a mix of cob and stone, with a pantiled gabled-end roof. Originally a three-room plan house with a through-passage, the higher end is situated to the left of the passage, with a rear wing projecting from the lower end. The farmhouse features two end stacks and an external front lateral stack heating the hall, all with brick shafts. It has two storeys throughout. The front elevation has a five-window range. The front lateral stack has three clear set-offs immediately to the left of the entrance to the passage, which is sheltered by a lean-to porch constructed in 1984. First floor windows include two 2-light windows to the left of the stack, set in enlarged 19th-century openings, and two single and two-light windows to the right with early 19th-century casements. On the ground floor, there are two 3-light casement windows to the left of the stack; the fixed outer lights have six panes each, while the central light has three; another window is positioned to the right of the stack, and a single-light window is also present. The doorway has a cranked chamfered lintel. An external stone, tile-roofed oven with a rounded corner is located at the right-hand end of the building. The rear wing, likely dating to the 19th century, has a roof ridge-line lower than that of the main range, and incorporates 3 and 4-light openings on each side, plus a 2-light casement window at the end. A corrugated-iron lean-to extends at the rear, with three small 2-light 19th and 20th-century casement windows above. A 17th-century 3-light window with ovolo mouldings, retaining its original red paint, was formerly part of the house and is now set into the wall of a barn opposite the farmhouse. The interior features plank and muntin screens either side of the through-passage, with chamfered muntins and a bressumer; these have shallow stops below and straight, morticed and pegged joints above. The right-hand (lower-end) screen extends into the former service room, now the kitchen, which shows evidence of a large blocked end fireplace, a deeply-chamfered beam, and a reinforced steel joist. A staircase rises up behind the screen. The hall fireplace (now concealed) has ovolo-moulded jambs, and a deeply-chamfered beam with step stops. A stud and wattle screen separates the hall from an inner room. The roof above the hall is supported by three raised crucks, with apexes morticed and pegged; the truss above the hall screen is closed, and there is no sign of smoke-blackening. The lower end roof is from the 19th century.