Dent House And Cob Wall To South

Dent House is a former farmhouse with origins dating back to the early 16th century, undergoing remodelling in the 17th century and alterations in the 18th. It was substantially renovated and extended in the 1970s. The construction is a combination of colourwashed rendered cob and stone, with a slate roof featuring deep eaves and hipped ends. The house has axial stacks, including one at the right end, with brick shafts, and a similar stack on the end of a rear wing; a 20th-century front lateral stack serves an addition.

The original plan comprised a three-room and through-passage layout, with a lower end to the right and a narrow, unheated inner room. A rear wing, set at a right angle to the inner room and the hall, creates an overall L-shaped plan. Initially an open hall from the late medieval period, it was floored around the early 17th century, with the rear kitchen wing possibly added later in the 17th century. The medieval roof survives in the lower end, while most of the hall and wing have 18th-century roof timbers under a later roof. A 1970s extension adjoins the lower end room to create service rooms behind the hall and lower end.

The exterior presents an asymmetrical three-bay, one-bay, two-bay window front with a 1970s two-storey porch. Windows are 2- and 3-light timber casements, with square leaded panes. Inside, the hall is the most complete room, featuring a large open fireplace with a timber lintel spanning the doorway from the passage. Chamfered crossbeams and joists, including stop-chamfered joists with run-out stops, are present, along with a plank and muntin screen exhibiting diagonal stops. A winder stair is situated in the front right corner, and a 18th-century china cupboard is built into the rear wall. The inner room has a chamfered mullioned rear window (potentially resited). Lower end and passage carpentry is 20th century, while an early 19th-century marble chimneypiece may conceal earlier features. A collection of 18th-century two-panel doors, some with HL hinges, are found throughout the house, both on the ground and first floors. The rear wing contains a rough crossbeam and a rebuilt open fireplace with a chamfered timber lintel featuring step stops.

The roof structure includes two side-pegged jointed cruck trusses, one over the hall and one over the lower end; only the apex of the lower end truss is visible with lightly sooted rafters beneath a later roof. The 18th-century roof utilizes a pegged collar rafter design with apexes. The building has group value with a nearby cider house and threshing barn.