East Wells

East Wells is a farmhouse that has been converted into a private dwelling. It dates from the early 16th century and was likely remodeled in the late 17th century, with further alterations made in the 19th and late 20th centuries. The exterior features painted roughcast rendered stone rubble and cob, topped with a half-hipped thatch roof. There is a brick stack at the right end and a stone rubble lateral stack with a brick shaft at the rear left end.

The building has a two-room layout with a central entrance, and it originally included a central staircase that was removed in the 20th century. The left room is heated by the rear lateral stack, and there is a second staircase to its right in a rear outshut; both fireplaces include bread ovens. Originally, it was an open-hall house with smoke-blackening extending throughout its three bays. The purlins between the two trusses are chamfered and stopped. The roof over the right end has been altered, making it unclear if the farmhouse originally extended in that direction. The fireplace lintels suggest that the floors were inserted in the late 17th century, but extensive 19th and 20th-century alterations have obscured the original layout.

The farmhouse is two storeys high with a two-window range featuring 4 over 8 paned sashes. The ground floor has 20th-century fenestration, and there is a 20th-century porch with a thatched hipped roof. The corners are accented with rusticated quoins, and the rear outshut has a pantiled roof.

Internally, the building has been extensively altered in the 20th century. Both fireplaces have slightly cambered lintels with thin chamfers, with a cloam oven in the left-hand room and a brick oven in the right-hand room. The roof consists of two trusses, likely raised crucks, although the feet have been sawn off. It features cranked morticed and tenoned collars, two tiers of threaded purlins, and a threaded ridge purlin. The purlins between the two trusses are chamfered with pyramid stops, and the left end truss is closed above the collar with a clay daub partition. All roof members, including rafters, battens, and some surviving thatch, are thoroughly smoke-blackened.