Horseford Farmhouse

Horseford Farmhouse is a farmhouse dating back to about 1500, with significant remodelling around 1600 and extensions in the 17th century. A lower section was rebuilt in the early 19th century. The farmhouse is constructed of rubble and cob, with rendered and colourwashed walls; the left-hand side has a slate roof, while the right-hand side has a hipped thatched roof. Brick chimney shafts are also visible, dating to the 19th century.

Originally built with a 3-room plan and a through-passage, the lower section to the left, including the passage, was entirely rebuilt in the early 19th century. This created a wide stairhall in place of the passage and a parlour at the left-hand end. The hall of the original house was likely open to the roof, but access limitations make it uncertain whether the inner room was also open, or if it was divided from the hall by a low partition. Around 1600, the hall and probably the inner room were floor, and a lateral stack was inserted at the front of the hall. The gable end stack of the inner room likely also dates from this period. Later in the 17th century, a dairy wing was built onto the back of the inner room. The lower end was substantially altered in the early 19th century.

The left-hand end of the front facade, dating to the early 19th century, has a 2-window arrangement with sash windows of 4 and 12 panes. To the right, a 2-window range features a large lateral rubble stack belonging to the hall; windows in the earlier part have 3-light 19th-century casements with close-set glazing bars. The right return boasts a projecting gable end stack from the inner room. A 3-light chamfered wooden-mullioned window is set into the rear on the first floor. There are two front door openings; one to the right leads into the early 19th-century section with a half-glazed door, while another has been inserted into the upper room and features a plank door.

Inside, the inner room (now the kitchen) has a central, chamfered and stepped-stopped axial ceiling beam, a blocked fireplace, and a wooden bressumer. Adjacent to the fireplace is a winder staircase with wooden threads. A doorway from the inner room to the hall features a heavy chamfered wooden frame with a semi-circular head, shouldered mortice and tenoned joints secured with two wooden pegs. The central hall contains an 18th-century cupboard and door. The early 19th-century section of the house has contemporary joinery, including doors and a staircase.

The early part of the house’s roof is smoke-blackened and consists of two bays featuring raised crucks over the hall, with two trusses having morticed apexes and morticed cambered collars. It also has two rows of continuous trenched purlins, a diagonally-set ridge, and a full set of smoke-blackened rafters.