Lower Rill

The Lower Rill is a farmhouse dating back to the early 16th century, significantly remodelled in the early 17th century. The left end of the building was reduced to a single storey in the 20th century. The walls are colourwashed rendered cob on stone rubble footings, with an asbestos slate roof which replaced a previous thatched roof. A right-end stack has stone shafts, and a large projecting front lateral stack, partially slate-hung, also features a stone shaft. The original layout suggests three rooms wide, with evidence of a former through or cross passage to the right of centre. Earlier roof timbers indicate the middle room was open to the roof, while the end rooms may have originally been two-storey, creating an open hall in the centre. This hall was likely floored in the early 17th century with the addition of the front lateral stack. A likely 18th-century staircase was inserted to the rear of the passage, and a rear outshut, potentially also from the 18th century, served as a backhouse and dairy. In the 20th century, the inner room was lowered into a single-storey lean-to, and the roof was re-covered with asbestos slates. The exterior has an asymmetrical four-window front with small timber casement windows with glazing bars, with a 20th-century porch to the right of the stack and a separate entrance on the front into the lower end room. Internally, significant 17th-century carpentry and joinery remains, although some features may be concealed by plaster. The lower end room has a deeply-chamfered crossbeam with remarkably long step hollow stops, and an open fireplace partially blocked, but retaining original jambs and lintel. Both the centre and left-hand rooms feature deeply-chamfered step-stopped cross beams, the left-hand beam no longer supporting a floor. Noteable are the surviving plank and muntin screens, one on the ground floor between the passage and the lower end room, and two on the first floor forming partition walls. The roofspace reveals two jointed cruck trusses; the truss over the hall is smoke-blackened with sooted rafters, purlins, and ridge, while the truss over the lower end appears clean. A working water pump is located in the rear right outshut. This is a late medieval house with an unspoiled interior and good survival of 17th-century features.