North Ham

North Ham is a house, originally a farmhouse, dating from around the mid-17th century, with an early 18th-century addition and early 19th-century remodelling. The house has cob walls rendered with plaster, and a thatched roof gabled to the main range and hipped to the rear wing. It features two brick stacks at the gable ends and one at the end of the rear wing.

Originally, the house was arranged with a three-room plan, containing an unheated central room with heated rooms situated on either side. In the early 18th century, a heated wing, likely a kitchen, was added to the left-hand room. A further internal remodel and upgrade took place in the early 19th century. Later, in the 19th and 20th centuries, minor additions were made to the rear of the property.

The front of the house presents an asymmetrical appearance with three windows. The two right-hand first-floor windows are 19th-century small-paned two-light casements. A taller 20th-century casement is located to the left. The ground floor has a late 19th-century six-pane sash, a 20th-century twelve-pane sash centrally located, and a 19th-century two-light casement to the right. A gabled porch, dating from the 19th century, is centrally positioned, sheltering an early 19th-century six-panel door.

The rear elevation includes an 18th-century wing on the right-hand side, a shallow 20th-century addition centrally, and a 19th-century lean-to on the left.

Inside, surviving 17th-century features are limited to a plank door with moulded cover strips at the rear of the central room and two ceiling beams, one chamfered and one roll moulded on one side and chamfered on the other. The rear wing retains insubstantial beams with narrow chamfers. The remaining joinery predominantly dates to the early 19th century, of good quality. The left-hand room’s chimney piece features a key motif to the frieze and a projecting cornice above. A built-in bench with paneling is present in the front corner of the right-hand room, alongside various contemporary panelled doors. The roof timbers are likely from the 19th century, consisting of rough straight principals.

The house retains an unaltered appearance and preserves a number of original features from its two principal phases of development.