Hardings Leigh Farmhouse

Farmhouse. It probably dates from the late 16th century, with improvements made in the 17th century, and was modernised and extended in the mid-20th century. The construction is plastered cob on rubble footings, with some exposed rubble; stone rubble or cob stacks have 19th and 20th century brick tops, and the roof is thatched, with slate to the 20th-century extension.

The main block initially had a 3-room-and-through-passage plan, with a former service room at the right (eastern) end. The rear of the passage is now blocked. The former inner and service rooms have end stacks, the latter projecting, and the hall has a projecting rear lateral stack. A 20th-century 2-room extension is on the left (west) end, with the outer room narrower and set back from the front.

The main front has an irregular 4-window arrangement with a mix of late 19th and 20th-century casements, some with glazing bars, and a 20th-century canted bay window without glazing bars to the right end (former service room). There is a 20th-century front door and a contemporary gable and slate-roofed porch to the right of centre, and 20th-century French windows in the hall. The 20th-century extension has iron and timber casements, most with glazing bars. The main roof and the extension are gable-ended and at slightly lower levels.

The interior largely shows the results of 19th and 20th-century modernisations, but the original layout suggests that earlier features may survive behind the plasterwork. The hall contains a late 16th-century oak plank-and-muntin screen at the upper end; the muntins are chamfered and stop-chamfered with run-out stops high enough for a bench below. The hall fireplace is blocked and the ceiling is supported by a roughly-squared and partly-waney crossbeam, probably from the 18th century. The former inner room has late 17th or early 18th century carpentry, including a plain chamfered axial beam and a large kitchen fireplace with a soffit-chamfered and straight cut stopped oak lintel. The inner room has a blocked fireplace and a plain chamfered crossbeam, again probably part of a late 17th or early 18th century refurbishment. The roof is of the same date and supported by a series of A-frame trusses with pegged lap-jointed collars. The owner reports an oak-framed window in the east end wall was inscribed with initials and a late 16th-century date.