Sandford Ash Farmhouse

Sandford Ash Farmhouse is probably a 16th century core building, substantially rebuilt and extended in the 17th century, and refurbished in the mid to late 19th century. It is built of plastered cob on rubble footings, with rubble stacks topped with 19th century brick, and has an asbestos roof, formerly thatched. Originally a 3-room-and-through-passage house facing south-east, with a service room at the left (south-west) end. A 17th century dairy wing adjoins the rear of the service room, and an apparently 19th century barn extends at right angles to the rear of the inner room. In the 19th century, the rear of the passage was blocked by a staircase. Axial and end stacks are visible, the end stacks serving the inner and service rooms, and the axial stack backing onto the former passage. The symmetrical front has five windows, with a 19th century six-panel door with glazed upper panels and a Tuscan doorcase with pilasters and entablature positioned left of centre. A secondary 19th century door, half-glazed with glazing bars and margin panes behind 20th century glass, is found to the right of centre and enclosed within a glass-roofed and glass-sided porch. The three ground floor windows alternate with doors, and are nine-pane sashes. Five fixed-pane first floor windows have six panes each, all of a similar size. The roof is hipped at each end, and both rear wings have hipped ends. On the right (north-east) side of the barn are two tall arch-headed windows with leaded glass at the top. The interior is largely from the mid to late 19th century, although the service room and dairy retain 17th century chamfered spine beams with run-out stops, and a 17th century roof to the main block, constructed on oak A-frames with pegged lap-jointed collars. The layout suggests that many 17th century, and possibly earlier, features are concealed.