Hoe Farmhouse

Hoe Farmhouse is a farmhouse of 16th-century origin, significantly altered in the 17th century and again during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It is constructed of rendered stone rubble and cob, with brick dressings, and has a slate roof with gable ends. A brick stack is located at the left end, along with two rear lateral stone rubble stacks with tapered caps and tall brick shafts.

The original plan consisted of five rooms in a line, with the central and right-end rooms heated by the rear lateral stacks. A cross-passage divided the right-end room from those to the left, with a further doorway providing direct access to the second room from the left. Originally, an open hall was situated at the right end, which was subsequently ceiled in the late 17th century when the house was ‘turned around’ to accommodate the rear stacks, and the lower end was extended leftwards and converted into a hall. An additional room, likely non-domestic in character, was added beyond the hall. In the late 19th century, the hall was divided to create a narrow room and staircase running from front to back, and a single-room extension was built at the left end. During this period, the house was divided into two dwellings, but has since been reunited.

The house is two storeys high with a four-window front. The upper-floor windows are 2-light casements with six panes per light, while the ground-floor windows are 2-light casements with two panes per light, except for a three-light window at the right end. All openings are framed by brick quoins, with the ground-floor quoins featuring slightly cambered brick lintels. A 20th-century lean-to porch is situated at the left-hand doorway.

The interior was largely altered in the late 19th century. A fireplace lintel to the lower rear lateral stack displays x-scratch mouldings, and a creamery niche is located to the right of the fireplace in the right-hand room. Ceiling beams are predominantly 19th and 20th-century replacements.

The medieval roof structure over the original hall and lower end remains largely intact and features two jointed cruck trusses. The feet of these trusses rest on short wall plates approximately 2 metres above the plinth. The upper truss has trenched purlins, while the lower truss has threaded purlins and a ridge purlin. Both have slightly cranked morticed and tenoned collars. The lower truss originally featured mortices for studs in the collar and apex. Smoke-blackening is confined to the roof members to the right of this truss, and the right gable end wall is also smoke-blackened beneath the whitewashed plaster render. The lower truss is situated immediately to the left of the passage. There is no evidence of a room beyond the hall. A 19th-century survey indicates that Hoe Farm was part of the Rolle Estate, and its late 19th-century remodelling is characteristic of estate farms in the area.