Dorridge Farmhouse

Farmhouse. Probably 16th century, with remodelling in the 17th century and substantial alterations in the late 19th century. The external walls are of painted rendered stone rubble and cob, with a slate roof having gable ends. A concrete tile roof covers the shippon at the lower end. There are two front lateral stacks, also rendered.

The plan is unclear due to the replacement of the roof and extensive internal remodelling in the late 19th century. It appears to follow a longhouse plan, consisting of two rooms and a lofted shippon at the lower end. However, a massive solid partition wall between the two rooms on the right, and a more impressive front lateral stack to the right-hand room, suggest that the right-hand room may once have been a hall with the left-hand room as a kitchen. The entrance passage may be a later modification. Alternatively, the right-hand room may have been a superior parlour added in the 17th century to an original core of a hall and outbuilding. A four-panelled door links the shippon to the entrance passage. The farmhouse was occupied by two separate households in the 19th century.

The exterior is two stories high, with a three-window front. All the windows are 20th-century 2-light casements with 2 panes per light. A shallow bay with a slate lean-to roof has been built out in front of the two ground floor windows between the stacks. A brick porch with a gabled slate roof is situated on the left end of the main range.

The room on the right has good quality ovolo moulded cross ceiling beams and bressumers, moulded joists, and an ovolo moulded fireplace lintel. The left-hand room features a rough chamfered timber lintel and a cross ceiling beam near the extensive passage partition, which is roughly chamfered on the upper side and ovolo moulded on the lower side. A 19th-century staircase runs up along the rear wall of this room. The shippon has been heavily altered in the 19th and 20th centuries, including the removal of the loft and replacement of the roof structure.