Linford House

Linford House is a house, likely dating to the late 17th century, though with possible earlier foundations, and with 19th-century modernization and renovation around 1980. It is constructed of plastered stone rubble, with stone rubble stacks topped with 19th-century brick, and an asbestos slate roof that was originally thatched. The house follows a four-room plan, facing southwest. A 19th-century extension forms the unheated left-end room; the room to the left of centre was the former kitchen, containing a large axial stack backing onto the extension. The small room right of centre served as an entrance lobby, and its disused rear corner stack may be secondary. The right-end room was originally the parlour and features a rear lateral stack. A stair block projects to the rear, overlapping the lobby. Originally, the stairs led from the parlour; however, in the 19th century, the doorway was blocked and the lower stairs were turned to the lobby. A two-story outshot was originally integrated to the rear of the former kitchen, with the extension room now used as a kitchen. While there appears to be reused carpentry from the 16th and earlier 17th centuries, the house is considered to be a single-phase late 17th-century build. Photographs taken around 1980, showing the front stripped of plaster, suggest older foundations were integrated. The two-story house has an irregular five-window front; the central three-window section was originally symmetrical, except that the ground floor left window has been enlarged. The other windows in this section feature flat stucco eared architraves, installed around 1980 as copies of previous 19th-century architraves. The main front door is central to this section and contains a 19th-century plank door with a later lozenge-shaped window and a contemporary gabled hood. A secondary door is located further to the left. All the windows are 20th-century replacement casements with glazing bars. The roof is gable-ended, with the right end originally hipped. The left-end wall is exposed rubble, and the windows there have low segmental arches. Inside, the original kitchen contains a large stone rubble fireplace with a soffit-chamfered and step-nick stopped oak lintel; the oven is blocked. An axial ceiling beam has a deep hollow-chamfered soffit and is unstopped. A similar axial beam is found in the entrance lobby, but not in the parlour. The parlour fireplace has a curving stone rubble pent (back) and a reused soffit-chamfered oak lintel. The dogleg stair has been virtually rebuilt, although some of the turned balusters are original. On the first floor are three late 17th-century two-panel doors. The corridor along the rear from the stair appears to be an original feature, incorporating a section of a late 16th- to early 17th-century oak plank-and-muntin screen. The roof is of A-frame trusses with pegged lap-jointed collars.