Hurfords Mead

Hurfords Mead is a house dating back to the 16th and 17th centuries, significantly renovated and partly rebuilt around 1965. It is constructed of plastered stone rubble, with stone rubble stacks; one has a chimneyshaft and the other is topped with 20th-century brick. The roof is slate, formerly thatched. The building's original layout was a double-depth house facing south, with the front rooms forming the historic core of a three-room-and-through-passage plan. An unheated inner room is located at the east end. A large axial stack backs onto the former passage, and another large stack is in the service end kitchen. It is likely that the house began as an open hall house in the 16th century, with the hall stack probably inserted in the late 16th century. The hall was floored over in the late 16th to early 17th century, and the kitchen stack was added in the 17th century. Some rear rooms likely originated as outshots in the 17th or 18th centuries, but these were brought into domestic use around 1965, with walls raised and a new roof constructed. The main staircase is located at the rear. The exterior presents an irregular four-window front with casement windows containing glazing bars, dating to 1965. The original passage front doorway is positioned to the left of centre and features a 1965 iron-framed glass door. The roof is hipped at each end. The rear of the house includes some leaded glass windows and a panelled door. Most of the interior dates from the 1965 renovation, though the ceiling in the service end kitchen was replaced at this time. The fireplace in that kitchen is original to the 17th century; it's constructed of plastered stone rubble with a soffit-chamfered oak lintel. The hall fireplace has a similar soffit-chamfered oak lintel and a ceiling of intersecting beams with broad hollow-chamfered soffits. A 16th-century oak two-centred doorframe with a chamfered surround is located in the doorway between the hall and inner room. An early roof truss may be hidden within the hall stack.