Browning's Farmhouse

Browning's Farmhouse is a detached house, originally a farmhouse, dating to the mid-17th century, with subsequent alterations and additions. It is constructed of roughcast rubble with some cob, and has a hipped and gable end roof. The front is thatched, while the rear is covered with corrugated iron. The original house comprised two rooms and a central passage, with a wing added to the right-hand room. A barn of jointed cruck construction, now converted to a dwelling, stands to the left, at a slightly different alignment. A later wing projects forward of the left-hand room. A newel stair was originally located at the rear of the central passage. The right-hand room and wing are heated by end stacks, both with brick shafts. The front elevation has a two-window range. The first floor has a C19 two-light casement window; the ground floor has a half-glazed door under a thatched porch, and a three-light casement window to the right. A C20 two-light casement window is present on each floor of the front wing. The right-hand side elevation shows the wing projecting slightly from the main range, with a single and a two-light casement window, the latter having 18 leaded panes and an early C19 catch to the middle light. The rear elevation shows a C20 addition obscuring the wing’s inner face, with a slight bulge to the left of the rear door marking the original location of the newel stair. Inside the right-hand room are chamfered cross ceiling beams with hollow step stops. The fireplace has a lintel and jambs with continuous chamfers and one remaining scroll stop. The plan is complicated by later modifications, including a newel stair and an axial screen (now dismantled) that once created a rear passage. The left-hand room has an axial half beam, exposed when the front wing was added. The rear wing fireplace has a chamfered lintel with scroll stops, and a former smoking chamber survives beside the fireplace. The roof trusses have been renewed. The adjacent barn had jointed cruck construction, which was seen before its destruction.