The Hawthorns

The Hawthorns is a farmhouse dating from the early 17th century, with subsequent alterations and additions in the mid- to late 17th, early 18th, and early- to mid-19th centuries. The structure is a rendered timber-frame building with a stone plinth and painted brickwork on the right return, all under a tiled roof. It is arranged in a ‘U’ shape, with a five-bay front facing the yard, and two-bay wings behind.

The front facing the yard has two-panel, squarish timber framing to the first floor, now single-panel on the ground floor, originally close-studded; the lower half has been renewed in stone on the left and rendered on the right. A gabled porch with an open end and boarded door, accessed by four stone steps, is positioned to the left of centre. To the left of the porch are two modern windows, and to the right a paired sash window and a tripartite window, with a paired sash window centrally placed. A brick end to the right gable extends beyond the framing. First-floor braces connect the main posts to the wallplate on the left. A two-light and a three-light mullion and transom window are present on both the left and right sides of the porch. A brick chimney sits on the ridge to the left of the porch. The right return features three gables with painted brickwork; the left gable projects, with a central projecting chimney breast narrowing at eaves level. A six-panel door, the top four panels glazed and the bottom panel flush, is positioned to the right, leading to the interior. A two-light casement window is to the right of the door. The first floor of the projecting gable has a three-light stone-mullioned window, while a two-light mullion and transom window sits above the door, repeated on the right. Decorative carved bargeboards adorn each gable, and there is a two-light casement window. A large, lateral chimney is located at the rear of the wing, featuring three diamond-set brick flues.

Inside, the wide chamfers of the ceiling beams are accentuated by pyramid and bar stops. A corner room on the right has a moulded cornice, reeded door surrounds with corner paterae, and four-panelled doors. Two elliptical arches are present in the hall. A further room has a moulded plaster cornice and panelled shutters to the windows, alongside a six-panel door with a fluted surround and corner paterae. The staircase is dogleg, leading to attics, and is characterised by large, square newels, an oval knob, a heavy moulded handrail, and sturdy turned balusters. On the first floor, wide chamfers are evident on the ceiling beams at the right end, and a corner room features two three-board doors with moulded cover strips, a built-in cupboard with an original wood latch, dust-ledge panelling, and an early 18th-century cast-iron grate within a fireplace surround. Surviving stencilled wall paintings depicting scrolls and cornucopiae are found over the back stairs. Ovolo-moulded windows with one surviving sliding shutter are present in the left wing, with a hollow chamfer to the braces. The house was originally an 'L' shaped building, with the projecting brick gable on the right likely being the oldest part. The entrance was originally located in an angle away from the yard. A wing was added in the mid-17th century.