Lower Soar

Lower Soar is a farmhouse that dates back to the 17th century, possibly incorporating some earlier materials. It has been extensively remodeled in the 18th and 19th centuries, with some alterations made in the 20th century. The building features slatestone rubble walls and a thatched roof, which is gabled at the left end and half-hipped at the front and rear wings. There are two rendered rubble stacks with brick shafts and two additional rubble stacks with brick shafts.

The original plan of the farmhouse was likely either a two or three-room-and-through-passage layout, with the lower end located to the left. The hall stack is positioned against the passage. At the higher end of the house, there is a cross wing of uncertain date, likely from the later 17th century or 18th century, and behind it is a smaller rear wing, probably dating from the 18th or early 19th century. In the 20th century, the internal room arrangement was altered, and the passage was modified.

The exterior of the farmhouse is two storeys high and features an asymmetrical four-window front, with a wing projecting from the right-hand end. The windows are later 20th-century small-paned two and three-light casements, and there is a 20th-century glazed door to the left of center. The wing has windows on its inner face and a row of pigeon holes on its end wall. A 19th-century outbuilding projects from the left-hand end of the house, forming an L-shaped range that creates a courtyard.

Inside, the farmhouse has been significantly altered, but the hall still retains its large 17th-century open fireplace with a slate lintel and ceiling beams that are chamfered and stopped. According to N. Alcock's cruck catalogue, there is a cruck roof timber, although this was not observed during the inspection.