Lower Woodburn Farmhouse

Farmhouse, dating from around the early to mid 17th century, and likely a remodelling of an earlier structure. The exterior is rendered with colourwash over cob and stone rubble, with a slate roof that is gabled at the ends. There are end stacks, one with brick shafts and the other with a stone shaft. The original layout consisted of a single-depth, three-room plan, although the right-hand room, with a lower roofline, was probably rebuilt as a cider house with an apple loft at one time. The main entrance is now situated between the right-hand and centre rooms, facing the side of the axial chimney breast. The two rooms on the left are of high quality and date back to the early to mid 17th century. A rear outshut with a lean-to roof likely represents later service rooms added after the 17th century. From the front, the asymmetrical facade has a four-window and three-window arrangement, featuring a gabled porch with a rounded outer doorway to the right of the centre. The taller section on the left has a mix of small-paned, two and three-light casement windows, some with iron frames and glazing bars, and others with 18th-century square leaded panes. Internally, there is a good survival of high-quality 17th-century carpentry and joinery. The left-hand room contains an open fireplace with a timber lintel, a deeply chamfered intersecting beamed ceiling with exposed joists, a fine plank and muntin screen with its original doorframe intact, chamfered muntins with scroll stops and a chamfered doorframe in the rear wall, possibly formerly leading to a stair turret. The centre room has an open fireplace with a timber lintel, ashlar jambs, and a bread oven. Both left-hand ground floor rooms feature lime ash floors. Additional joinery of interest includes several plank doors, likely dating from the 18th century. The roof has large apex pegged trusses with nailed collars over the two left-hand rooms; a more modern roof covers the lower end. Two re-used timbers appear to be slightly smoke-blackened. The house remains largely unspoiled and retains a traditional character.