Broomham Farmhouse

Broomham Farmhouse is a probable early 16th-century farmhouse, significantly remodelled in 1638 as indicated by a datestone, with some 19th-century alterations, though largely unchanged since. The house is constructed of unrendered stone rubble, with the right end partly rendered stone rubble and cob. It has a thatched roof, half-hipped with a chamfered timber wall plate, and a corrugated asbestos roof to the rear kitchen wing. There is a tall front lateral stone rubble stack with a tapered cap, stone rubble ridge stacks towards the left end, and to the rear kitchen wing.

The house’s original layout was a long-house plan, incorporating a hall, an inner room, a further unheated room likely originally a dairy, and an integral lofted outbuilding to the right. A kitchen wing has been added to the rear of the hall and through-passage, creating an overall T-shaped plan with a single-storey outshot to the left. The house was originally open to the roof, including the lofted outbuilding, which was extended probably in the late 17th century at the right end. The house was likely ceiled in 1638, when the kitchen wing appears to have been added, and the hall stairs, housed in a shallow projection between the hall stack and the through-passage doorway. A spiral staircase is located in the rear kitchen wing.

The exterior has 2 storeys and a 4-window range of 19th-century windows; these are all 3-light casements with 8 panes per light. Additional windows include a small 2-light staircase window, a 17th-century 4-light chamfered mullion window to the left end, and a 2-light mullion window in the upper storey of the rear wing. The outbuilding at the right end has a large 19th-century shuttered opening above a 4-light timber window. A studded plank door is located at the right end. The datestone above the hall window is inscribed "Anno Domini 1638 B.T. T.T.".

The interior is largely unaltered, though inaccessible at the time of survey, and likely contains early fabric. It is said to contain a domed ash house in the projection behind the rear kitchen wing stack; however, the 17th-century panelling has been removed. The lofted outbuilding features a single raised cruck truss with a cranked morticed and tenoned collar and 2 tiers of threaded purlins and a ridge purlin. All roof members, including battens, rafters, and the underside of the thatch, are heavily smoke-blackened, except for the right end extension. The entire roof structure is of similar construction.

Broomham Farmhouse is an remarkably unspoiled example of a longhouse, retaining features of considerable interest and deserving a full interior inspection.