South Holdridge

South Holdridge is a farmhouse, now a house, dating to the late 17th century, with likely alterations in the late 19th century and minor changes in the late 20th century. The building is constructed of rendered stone and cob, with a corrugated asbestos roof. A section of the rear wall on the right-hand end was rebuilt in the 20th century using blockwork, and there is a rendered stack.

The original plan appears to have been a two-room central baffle-entry layout, with a staircase housed in a lean-to outshout at the rear of the stack, accommodated by the sloping ground. A smaller room, now the kitchen, is located to the right-hand end. The lean-to outshout at the rear of the stack, the right-hand room, and the kitchen are originally late 17th century. The thicker walls of the staircase projection suggest it was built at the same time as the rest of the house. A later lean-to outshout is present at the rear of the right-hand end, indicated by a straight joint in the gable end. It's possible the house represents a significant remodelling of an earlier, simpler three-room and cross-passage plan, with a former service room to the left, a stack inserted into the former cross passage, a hall to the right, and an inner room (now the kitchen) to the far right, although there is no supporting evidence for this beyond the plan.

The house has two storeys with a one-storey lean-to. The front elevation is asymmetrical. There are three first-floor windows – two 19th-century, three-light wooden casements to the left, and one 19th-century, two-light wooden casement to the right. The ground floor has two 19th-century, three-light, segmental-headed casements. These ground floor windows flank a 20th-century half-glazed door positioned slightly to the left, with another 20th-century half-glazed door serving as the kitchen entrance on the right. Both doorways have late 20th-century gabled porches. The left-hand side of the front of the house is set back. There’s an outside toilet adjoining the right-hand gable end, with a boarded door.

Inside, the rooms on the ground floor flanking the stack feature cambered, chamfered cross beams and half beams with scroll stops. The room to the right of the stack contains an open stone fireplace with a bread oven and a 20th-century wooden lintel. A staircase is located at the rear of the stack. A 17th-century chamfered doorframe is present at the head of the stairs, displaying mason’s mistred joints and stops. Various old boarded doors with strap hinges are also present throughout.