Five Wyches Farmhouse

Farmhouse. Likely dating to the 16th century or earlier, with later additions. The farmhouse is built of stone and cob, covered with roughcast render, and has a thatched roof that is half-hipped. It features two granite ashlar chimney stacks with tapered tops and weatherings, one positioned slightly off-centre to the right, likely in the gable of the original house, and the other to the left, serving the original hall. A tall rendered stack projects from the left-hand end of the front wall, extending to the left-hand end of the building, with a small rounded oven at its base. A third stack is located at the right-hand end. The original layout was a three-room plan with a through-passage, featuring a hall stack backing onto the passage; a lower room, formerly the kitchen, with a front lateral stack; and a parlour with a gable stack. An additional room was added in the 16th or 17th century, with a rear wing at right angles to it. Rear lean-to additions were probably made in the 19th century. The farmhouse is two storeys high, excluding the lean-to additions, and has a five-window front, although there is a large windowless area on the left-hand end. Most windows have 19th-century wooden casements with three lights, except for the right-hand ground-floor window and the left-hand and second-from-right first-floor windows, which have two lights. The original doorway, in the left-hand bay of the ground floor, and a secondary doorway in the second bay from the right both have plank doors with 20th-century six-pane windows cut into them. The second bay from the left is slightly built out and has a half-hipped gable, likely a 19th-century extension of the hall. Inside, the rear door of the through-passage retains a chamfered wood door jamb dating back to the 16th or 17th century. The lower room has chamfered beams with step-stops, a wide fireplace with a renewed wood lintel and a 19th-century brick oven. The hall and parlour, now combined into one room, have ovolo-moulded beams with raised run-out stops, where they survive. The hall fireplace has granite jambs and a chamfered wood lintel. The added room at the upper end, separated from the earlier house by a solid wall and with the back of the parlour stack projecting into it, also has chamfered beams with step-stops. A newel staircase is situated in the corner of the projecting gable to the hall, likely dating to the 19th century. A timber-framed stair turret, with straight granite steps, is at the rear of the lower room. On the second storey, a low plank-and-muntin screen is located beside the hall stack on the rear side; the studs are plain towards the room over the through passage, and the screen may have originally been intended to be viewed from the other side, potentially from an open hall. The roof was not inspected, but trusses have plain feet, and the truss over the division between the hall and parlour has the sawn-off end of a tie-beam and notches for wattle-and-daub staves on the underside of the principal rafters. Some original features may remain concealed beneath plaster. The barn located at the rear of the house forms an attractive group, particularly when viewed from the road.