Kingsford Farmhouse

Kingsford Farmhouse is a farmhouse dating from the early 16th century, with substantial remodelling in the late 16th century and a rear addition dating from the late 19th century. The walls are whitewashed cob on stone rubble footings, with a slate roof, gabled at the ends. Brick chimney shafts are present at the ends and centrally, with a projecting bread oven on the left-hand end stack.

The original layout evolved from a late medieval open hall plan, with a narrow inner room to the right, to a single-depth main range of three rooms. The roof space has not been fully inspected, but it is evident that the lower end of the house was originally open to the roof timbers. The flooring over the rooms occurred in phases, beginning with the inner room, which was jettied into the hall and likely unheated. This was followed by the insertion of the hall stack, and then the flooring over the central room and passage, creating a three-room and passage plan with a kitchen at the lower end. The house was refenestrated, likely in the 18th century. In the late 19th century, a two-story rear addition was built, potentially alongside the addition of the right-hand-end stack, which provided heating to the inner room. A screen in the lower end passage was removed in the 20th century.

The front facade is irregular, with four windows and a flat-roofed porch leading directly into the inner room on the extreme right. A doorway to the passage, positioned left of centre, has been blocked. There is a complete set of likely 18th-century iron casement windows, some with margin glazing and old glass.

Inside, there is an impressive survival of 16th-century joinery and carpentry. The hall features a good oak plank and muntin partition screen to the inner room, with chamfered muntins halted at hall bench level by diagonal stops, and a deeply chamfered step stopped cross beam. The hall fireplace is partially blocked by a stove, but the timber lintel and the fireplace itself remain. A shouldered timber doorway connects the hall to the lower end, and there is a deep jetty above the hall screen in the inner room. The lower end room has a fireplace with stone rubble jambs and a chamfered lintel with run-out stops, with similar stops on the cross beam. A chamfered, rounded timber rear doorway of the through passage survives. In the roof space, four jointed cruck trusses with two tiers of purlins are visible below a more recent roof. These trusses are smoke-blackened over the hall and likely sooted over the inner room, with a smoke-blackened threaded ridge truncated by the chimney stack.

The house has evolved significantly over time, with the main range retaining very little alteration from the 19th or 20th centuries. The survival of the 18th-century fenestration on the front elevation is notable and contributes to the building's appeal.