Hill Farmhouse Including Adjoining Cider House

Hill Farmhouse including Adjoining Cider House

This is a farmhouse with late medieval origins, remodelled and probably extended in the early 17th century. A cider house wing was added to the front left in the 18th century. The building is constructed of whitewashed rendered cob and stone rubble with a thatched roof. The main roof is gabled at the left end and hipped at the right end of the main block, with a half-hip at the front of the wing. Three stacks project from the building: a front lateral stack with a bread oven, a rear left lateral stack, and an axial stack to the right of centre with a truncated shaft.

The plan is single depth with a three-room and cross-passage arrangement at the left end, a one or two-room addition at the right end, and the cider house wing projecting forward at the left end. The lower end is heated by the rear lateral stack, the large hall by the front lateral stack, and the inner room by a truncated stack shaft. The medieval core consists of two very wide bays open to the roof timbers, possibly with a two-storey block at the right end. The house was probably floored and had stacks inserted in the early 17th century. It was extended at the left end by one room with a cross passage introduced at the left end of the medieval house. The right end, which was not inspected during survey, is slightly set back and projects to the rear; it is used as a separate dwelling.

Externally, the building is two storeys with an asymmetrical four-window front. A 20th-century glazed porch leads to the cross passage on the left. The windows are 1-, 2-, and 3-light 19th or 20th-century timber casements with glazing bars. A second door is positioned at the right of the front elevation. The rear elevation is buttressed and has timber casement windows. The inner elevation of the cider house wing has one first-floor window and a door with three small windows on the ground floor, plus a larger casement at the extreme right.

Interior features are well preserved. The cross passage contains a plank and muntin screen on the hall side with a small adjoining lobby that contains the stair. The large hall has a fine open fireplace with a massive chamfered red sandstone lintel and jambs and a blocked arch to the bread oven. Two widely-spaced chamfered stopped cross beams with exposed joists support the ceiling; a plank and muntin screen at the higher end is plastered over on the hall side. The inner room has an open fireplace with red sandstone jambs and a chamfered timber lintel. The ceiling of the lower end room is higher than the rest of the house. Its fireplace lintel is plastered over and the room is paved with red tiles. A probably 15th-century two-light timber window with trefoil-headed lights lights the stair. It is blocked externally and the ground-floor ceiling would cut across it; it may be one of the medieval hall windows in situ, though it is surprisingly close to the end wall of the medieval house.

The roof is constructed with two widely-spaced bays of side-pegged jointed cruck, beautifully carpentry-worked with peaked collars mortised into the principals. The principals are mortised at the apex with a diagonally-set threaded ridge. The threaded purlins are chamfered. The roof is complete with blackened thatch, rafters, and battens. A closed truss above the inner room and hall partition is not sooted on the hall side, though the roof construction beyond the partition was not seen in detail at time of survey; the roof timbers appear not to be sooted. The timbers over the lower end room are also not sooted. The left gable end wall is stud construction. The cider house wing has an apple loft and pegged A-frame trusses, probably 18th century.

This is a handsome, unspoiled traditional house with a fine medieval roof and good quality interior detail. It has group value with the threshing barn to the north-east.