Ball Ham

Ball Ham is a farmhouse that was once a blacksmith's house, dating from the mid to late 17th century. It has a 19th or 20th-century addition on the right end and has been re-roofed in the 20th century. The building is constructed of rendered cob on stone rubble footings and features a wooden shingle roof with gabled ends, which was originally thatched. There is an axial stack with a rendered shaft.

The original layout consisted of a two-room plan with a lobby entrance adjacent to the axial stack, where the left room was heated and the right room was unheated. A third room has since been added to the right end, and the middle room has been subdivided. A straight stair, likely from the 19th century, rises against the rear wall of the left room and cuts through 17th-century joists.

The exterior is two storeys high with an asymmetrical four-window front. The front door is located to the left of center, with a second door on the right leading into the right room. The windows are from the 20th century but are likely set within earlier openings.

Inside, the center room features closely spaced axial ceiling beams, while the left room has a 17th-century scroll-stopped crossbeam and fireplace lintel, along with some surviving old wall plaster, which is also present on the first floor. The roof consists of 20th-century trusses, likely installed after 1960 when the thatch was removed. The two-room lobby entrance plan is less common in this region compared to the more typical three-room and through-passage arrangement. The farmhouse holds group value with the blacksmith's forge at Ash Mill.