Gulliford Farmhouse, Including Front Garden Area Wall

This is a former farmhouse, likely dating back to the late medieval period, and incorporating a front garden wall. The farmhouse was probably remodelled in the mid-17th century and underwent substantial reconstruction following a fire in 1985. It is built of rendered cob and stone rubble, with a thatched roof that is hipped at the ends. There are stone rubble stacks, one projecting laterally on the front, with set-offs and a bread oven at the left end, and another at the rear right.

The house’s original layout was an ‘L’ shape, comprising a three-room main range and a cross passage, with a lower end to the left. A rear wing projects at a right angle to the main range. The original house was an open hall house, and one medieval smoke-blackened cruck truss survives at the left end. Evidence from renovations suggests the lower end room was originally shorter, possibly serving as a 17th-century kitchen before being extended. The stack in the lower end room is probably from the late 18th or early 19th century. The mid-17th century remodelling is of a high quality, featuring good carpentry detail in the hall and a 17th-century lintel in the inner room parlour. The date of the rear wing is uncertain, and it may have been a converted farmbuilding.

The front of the house is asymmetrical, with a higher roofline on the left and five windows. A 20th-century timber front door is located in the former cross passage to the left of centre, with 1- and 2-light 20th-century timber casement windows with glazing bars. On the rear elevation, a 17th-century 2-light mullioned window with chamfered mullions is visible on a projection off the hall. A flint garden wall, topped with grey limestone coping, runs in front of the house, with a ramped left end.

Inside, the 17th-century hall features a chamfered crossbeam with exposed scratch-moulded joists, an open fireplace with a chamfered lintel with elongated stops, and a 17th-century doorframe with stops to the former cross passage. A 20th-century staircase has been added to the rear of the passage. The lower end room has a likely late 18th or 19th-century brick fireplace intended for a chimney-piece. The inner room fireplace has an ovolo-moulded lintel and probably rebuilt brick jambs. Most of the crossbeams in this room have been replaced, but one original crossbeam is chamfered with step stops, along with a set of original exposed joists. A second crossbeam is also from the 17th century but was likely repositioned. The roof retains one late medieval smoke-blackened side-pegged jointed cruck truss, originally with a diagonally-set ridge, the collar mortised into the principal rafters. The truss has been boarded-in above the collar.