Yeo Farmhouse

Yeo Farmhouse is likely a late medieval building, but certainly dates to the late 16th or early 17th century, with later 17th-century additions. It is constructed of plastered cob and rubble walls, with a thatched roof gabled to the left end and hipped to the right. There are three brick stacks: one at the left gable end and two axial.

The building has a complex structural development, and the original form is unclear. The earliest roof structure survives over the hall and lower room, suggesting these comprised the original house, which may have been open to the roof with a central hearth to the hall, although this is not certain due to lack of roof access. The ground floor features largely date to the late 16th century, when the open hall, if it existed, was floored. The fireplace in the hall was inserted backing onto the passage, and the lower room fireplace is probably contemporary. Instead of a customary inner room, an unheated wing, containing a dairy and possibly a staircase, was added behind the hall at this time. A small range parallel to the main house, possibly contemporary, runs to the rear of this wing, with independent access and a potentially self-contained function. An unheated room with a store above was added probably in the later 17th century. The room at the left end’s date of construction is uncertain, but is likely post-17th century.

The exterior presents a long, asymmetrical five-window front dating to the early 20th century, with four and five-light casements. A circa-early 20th-century gabled stone porch with a roundheaded arch sits centrally, sheltering a part-glazed door leading to the passage. A slit window is located to the right of the porch at an intermediate level. The rear elevation has stone steps at the left end leading to a first-floor door. A wing projects at the right-hand end, featuring a small wood mullion window just below the eaves in the angle. The rear parallel range contains a five-light, diamond-section wood mullion window, unglazed. A blocked wooden mullion window sits on the ground floor of the left gable end.

Inside, the two lower rooms have chamfered cross beams with hollow step stops. The hall and passage feature chamfered beams with raised arrow stops. A contemporary chamfered wooden doorframe with similar stops is at the rear of the hall. The roof over the central part of the main range has three substantial side-pegged jointed crucks. The rear wing roof consists of raised crucks. Roof access is unavailable, so evidence of smoke-blackening cannot be assessed.

This was a substantial building in the 17th century, possibly dating back to medieval times, and is significant for its two forms of early roof construction. It remains unspoiled, with picturesque external elevations, and forms a traditional courtyard at the rear, which includes a building likely to have been an external bakehouse.