Ferncott Sarum

Ferncott and Sarum are two adjoining houses, originally part of a farmhouse and later divided into cottages. The core of the building likely dates back to the 16th century, with substantial rebuilding occurring in the late 17th and early 18th centuries when it was divided, followed by rearrangement into two houses and modernization around 1975-80. The construction is primarily cob rendered with a rubble base, featuring rubble stacks topped with 20th-century brick, and a thatched roof.

The arrangement of the houses is complex, seemingly based on a three-room-and-through-passage plan. Sarum occupies the original hall, passage, and inner room, forming a two-room house with 20th-century stairs in the rear of the passage. Ferncott, on the left, is now a two-room cottage with a circa 1975-80 stair in a rear extension, the two extension rooms joined by the demolition of a party wall. Prominent rear lateral stacks are located in the inner room of Sarum and on the first extension to the inner room of Ferncott, while a former hall stack projects from the front of Sarum.

The front facade has a six-window arrangement of late 19th and 20th-century casements with glazing bars. One small 18th-century, three-light window with flat-faced mullions, central casement, and leaded glass panes is located at first floor level above the door to Sarum and to the right of the front stack. Late 19th to early 20th-century doors are situated to the right of the stack for Sarum and at the left end for Ferncott. The extensions at the left end are slightly recessed from the main front. The roof is half-hipped to the right and gable-ended to the left.

Internally, features mainly date from the late 17th to early 18th century. Internal walls are full-height cob crosswalls. The original service room in Sarum contains a chamfered axial beam with straight-cut stops and a restored rubble fireplace, featuring a chamfered oak lintel with worn stops. The hall in Sarum has an unstopped chamfered axial beam. A fireplace in the hall was narrowed in the late 18th century with a cloam oven integrated into the side. The fireplace in the extension room of Ferncott has a renovated oak lintel with straight-cut stops and chamfered edges. A circa 1975-80 staircase replaced an earlier staircase that was lit by a small window, now blocked. A room at the right end of the building has been converted from a former barn and retains a 19th-century A-frame truss. The remainder of the roof likely features late 17th to early 18th-century A-frame trusses.