Batten'S

This is a detached house, originally a farmhouse, dating from the late 16th or early 17th century, with later additions. The construction is of random rubble chert, and the roof is thatched, hipped in style. The original plan comprised three rooms linked by a passage, with the service area to the left of the passage and a wing extending from the inner room. The passage was later blocked by a large chimney stack, and a bake oven bulge now occupies the site of the original rear passage door. The hall fireplace is set diagonally across the rear left-hand corner of the room, an unusual arrangement. The gable end of the inner room has been rebuilt with a curved shape. The service wing is heated by a fireplace backing onto the hall fireplace, but placed at a conventional alignment, with a rear wing stack. Both stacks are brick. Alterations likely occurred in the late 18th century, evidenced by datestones of 1785 and 1790, set into the gable walls of the wing and main range (left) respectively. A winder stair is positioned to the hall side of the front entrance. The house has two storeys. The front elevation has a three-window range, with 20th-century windows set high under the eaves to the first floor. A conservatory projects from the service end and main entrance. There are 20th-century casement and French windows to the hall and inner room, respectively. The right-hand end elevation features more 20th-century windows, as well as a possible late 17th-century four-light casement window with a pegged frame. A rear lean-to has late 20th-century windows. The rear wall of the hall is under a peaked eaves line. Inside, a plank and muntin screen separates the hall and inner room; the chamfered muntins are stopped and unmitred, with a doorway and a cranked lintel. The cross beam in the hall ceiling is chamfered with hollow step stops. There are numerous 17th-century joinery features, including fielded panelled doors to rooms and cupboards with HL hinges. A first-floor door between the main range and the wing incorporates a contemporary lock that can only be operated from within the house, suggesting it may have separated the family’s sleeping quarters from those of servants or labourers. One window is fitted with an escutcheon catch. Later 18th- or early 19th-century joinery includes a row of hat pegs. The roof structure consists of three jointed cruck trusses, with collars set high and half-dovetail joints.