Lower Aylescott Farmhouse And Adjoining Outbuildings To Rear

The farmhouse, now a house, along with adjoining outbuildings to the rear, dates to 1606, as indicated by a porch datestone. The outbuildings appear to be from the 17th century. The main range was refenestrated and its interior altered in the late 20th century. The farmhouse is built of painted rendered cob and rubble, with a slate roof, while the outbuildings are exposed rubble and cob, with a roof that is partly slate and partly corrugated iron. Rubble stacks are present at each gable end of the main range. The building has a three-room and cross passage plan, with a two-storey porch. It is two storeys high with a five-window front, now featuring 20th-century windows. The porch bears a datestone inscribed "NR : CR" with a slate sundial above. A fine 17th-century square-headed doorway is found within the porch, featuring an ovolo-moulded surround and ornately carved scroll stops. The original four-board framed and ledged door, complete with cover strips and original lock, remains. Internally, much of the original joinery is intact, including a fireplace lintel with scroll stops and a herb or spice cupboard at the lower end. A section of the original cross-passage doorframe, with a chamfered and stopped surround, survives. A blocked doorway with a stopped and chamfered surround is visible on the lower side of the cross passage. The hall ceiling is supported by chamfered scroll-stopped beams. The upper end of the farmhouse retains 17th-century panelling to the height of one wall, originally dado panelling. Most chamber doorways and first-floor doors are original or 18th-century replacements. Five roof trusses are present, four featuring straight collars lap-jointed into principals, with a lower set of purlins and rafters largely intact. To the rear, a dairy and kitchen with a lean-to roof, and a projecting gabled stair turret, extend along almost the entire length of the main range. These also appear to be from the 17th century and are primarily rubble with cob patching. The roof is mostly slate, with a gable end to the left, but the right end has been lowered and fitted with a corrugated lean-to roof. A three-room plan is also evident here, with the former use uncertain, but thought to have been a detached kitchen and dairy block with accommodation above. The dairy has a four-light mullion window on the ground floor with gallery access to the room above, along with a 17th-century doorframe having a stopped and chamfered surround. The central kitchen provides access to the dairy and courtyard through doorways with chamfered surrounds. Four-light splayed mullion and a three-light mullion window are positioned to the right. A large axial stack incorporates a bread oven. A cell to the right shows evidence of rebuilding, but access to the first floor over the kitchen is provided by 17th-century stopped and chamfered doorways. Two-light windows are on each floor to the right of a plank door.