Hemyock Castle House

Hemyock Castle House is a detached house, originally the principal manor of Hemyock, and later used as a farmhouse. It is located within the late 14th-century curtain walls of the castle bailey. The earliest surviving features likely date from the late 15th century. The house was substantially altered in the late 18th century by General Simcoe, and again in the 19th century. It is constructed of random rubble flint with some limestone, and has hipped and half-hipped symmetrical tile roofs.

The original layout is difficult to reconstruct due to significant remodelling. It likely began as a three-room through-passage-plan house with a service wing to the right of the passage. The present principal doorway, featuring a carved stone archway dating from the late 15th or early 16th century (though brought from Cornwall in the late 19th century), does not mark the original passage; remnants of the passage survive behind the second door in the range. The medieval hall lies between these doorways and displays evidence of smoke-blackening on its roof, indicating it was originally open to the roof. The service wing and inner room have been largely reconstructed, possibly around 1800. The stacks and the first floor of the hall appear to be late 18th-century insertions, with the stack for the hall located at the higher end and the stack for the service wing backing onto the passage. Brick shafts are also present. The building is two storeys high.

The front elevation has two roof ridge levels, the higher level being over the inner room and part of the hall. It has a four window range, all with late 20th-century timber casements. A rear outshut is present. The rear and right-hand end elevations have late 20th-century fenestration. The left-hand end is apsidal, featuring one large pointed window and several smaller pointed entrances now serving as windows, which were likely decorative Gothic additions dating from the late 18th century, during Simcoe’s remodelling.

Inside, the hall has rough cross beams. The fireplace lintel has a shallow chamfer and scroll stop, indicative of 18th-century work. A partition with unchamfered posts is visible below the rear stairs, at the lower end of the hall. The inner room was derelict until recently and is largely a late 20th-century reconstruction incorporating some original materials. The roof retains two medieval trusses, likely jointed crucks, at either end of the hall, along with threaded purlins, a threaded diagonal ridge piece, a yoke, and a cranked collar with chamfered archbraces. These timbers are heavily eroded and show evidence of smoke-blackening.

Historical notes indicate that General Simcoe, the first Governor General of Canada, purchased the house, lived in it briefly, and was responsible for much of the remodelling.