Great Pit Farmhouse

Great Pit Farmhouse is a 15th-century farmhouse with later alterations, constructed of cob on stone footings, plastered and roofed with gables of slate. Originally designed with a 3-room plan, incorporating a through-passage, it also features a continuous rear outshut with a catslide roof, and a 19th-century extension to the left. A left-hand external stack has a bakery oven bulge, partially concealed within the 19th-century extension, while the right-hand stack has two offsets, servicing the heat and parlour respectively. A rear lateral stack originally heated the hall. The house has two storeys and a 5-window front, the ridge of the left-hand extension being lower than the main house’s roofline. All windows are 3-light, 19th-century casements, with 4 similar windows on the ground floor, and all retain glazing bars. A lean-to slate porch shelters the front door, which leads to the passage. Later 19th and 20th-century windows are present at the rear.

Inside, plank and muntin screens are positioned on either side of the through-passage, with chamfered, stopped details and carpenter’s mitres. Brackets support a bressumer in the parlour. The doors within these screens are late 17th or early 18th century, with one, leading to the parlour, having large fielded panels. The parlour has 3 axial beams with run-out stops. The roof structure comprises 5 jointed crucks that are pegged and morticed at the apex, with cranked collars and threaded purlins, and features a diagonal ridge piece. The roof is significantly smoke blackened from end to end, along with sooted rafters over the service end. The hall, which includes the through-passage, is divided into two bays, with the trusses at each end formerly closed and the central uprights sooted. Historical records, specifically a reference by J.H. Ward in 1910, mention a potentially significant plaster ceiling with sporting subjects, possibly dating to 1610. According to the current occupier, a "painted" ceiling might still be present above the parlour chamber; it’s possible the ceiling mentioned by Ward still exists, concealed within the building.