Bury Court Farmhouse

Bury Court Farmhouse is a building with a complex history, dating back to the 12th century, with significant alterations in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. The exterior is a mix of rough render over brickwork or stonework, with Flemish bond brickwork visible on the rear wing, and a tiled roof. The front of the house has five bays and stands two and a half storeys high, with a single room’s depth. A later, parallel rear wing is two storeys high.

The left-hand section of the entrance front represents the 12th-century origins of the house. It has a boarded entrance door accessed by a single stone step, with an elliptical arch above it, and a rounded edge. To the right of the door is a flat-headed window with a single light. A slight projection contains the last two bays, featuring a single-storey gabled porch with a boarded door reached by two stone steps. This porch has double ovolo eaves and a pediment, with a triangular light at its base. A three-light mullion and transom window is located to the right under a cambered arch. The first floor features a four-light mullion and transom window slightly right of centre, and a single-light window with a cambered head further right, followed by a three-light mullion and transom window also with a cambered head. There is dentil eaves throughout. Four rooflights are present, and the roof on the right projects beyond the gable, resting on timber brackets. The left return reveals a set-back brick gable to a lean-to addition. The right return has a rendered front gable and a large, projecting chimney base, aligned with a wall. This wall has three-light mullion and transom windows to both the ground and first floors. Three star-plan brick flues are visible on the left, beginning below the eaves and topped with a 19th-century brick cap. On the right, a brick gable features three-light mullion and transom windows with cambered brick arches to both the ground and first floors, with a plain brick string course. A chimney is situated in the valley between the gables.

Inside, a large fireplace with an elliptical timber lintel is found on the right, along with bar and pyramid stops to the ceiling beam chamfers. To the left, a studded, boarded door with heavy iron hinges leads to a three-bay undercroft, accessible by stone steps. The undercroft includes semi-circular headed windows in the end and front walls, each containing two lancets in the rear wall. A slightly-pointed ribbed quadripartite vaulting is present, supported by wall shafts with moulded capitals and flanked by short, corbelled columns at the top. Above, remnants of the walls of the first-floor hall survive, including a semi-circular head to a doorway off the stairs. The eaves were raised, probably in the 18th century. The roof in the right part has an interrupted tie-beam truss, along with two pairs of purlins and a square ridge. Six-panel doors are found on the stairway and ground floor. The house represents an important medieval survival, significantly enlarged in the 17th century.