Frost Farmhouse

Frost Farmhouse is a farmhouse dating from the 17th century or earlier, with later additions. The walls are roughcast, with the front wall reportedly having a stone ground storey and cob above, while the rear wing is entirely of cob. The roof is thatched with wheat reed, retaining a layer from the previous re-thatching; a later addition has an asbestos-slate roof, and a rear lean-to has corrugated asbestos roofing. A large, projecting chimneystack with offsets is in the right-hand gable, with a later shaft added to the top. Two rendered chimneyshafts are on the ridge to the left, one on the original left-hand gable and one on the left-hand gable of the later addition. The rear gable of the rear wing has a projecting stack with an added shaft. The original layout was a two-room plan with a through-passage and a kitchen wing at a right angle to the main range, situated on the right-hand side. An addition was made in the early 19th century to the left of the main range, and a lean-to was added at the rear. The farmhouse is two storeys high, with the added lean-to being single-storeyed. The front elevation is roughly symmetrical, with three windows. The central ground-floor entrance door is six-panelled, with the lower four panels being flush and the upper two glazed, and has a flat hood supported by shaped brackets. The windows are mostly 19th-century wood casements of four lights, except for the slightly off-centre second-storey window, which has three lights; all lights contain three panes. The addition to the left has a single 10-paned sash window without horns in each storey. A short length of 19th-century cast-iron railing with twisted shaft and lily-head uprights runs in front of the garden. Inside, the right-hand ground-floor room has chamfered ceiling beams, one of which exhibits a scroll-stop. The gable fireplace, now with a 20th-century chimneypiece, is said to have a large old wood lintel. In the rear wing's kitchen, the gable fireplace has a chamfered wood lintel with rounded step stops. The absence of a solid wall between the wing and the main range suggests they may be of a single build. The roof of the wing has a side-pegged jointed cruck truss. The trusses of the main range are heavily plastered, but one appears to have a curved foot. The front wall has been raised and secondary roof timbers inserted. Access to the apex of the roof space is not possible. The farm was formerly known as Cridiford.