Aldworth Farm, formerly Beards Cottage

Aldworth Farm, formerly Beards Cottage

This is a house, probably dating from the later 16th century, with substantial alterations made in the later 17th century, 18th century, and later 20th century.

The building is constructed of timber frame, with the ground floor later replaced in brick. The upper floor is infilled with wattle and daub and lathe and plaster, clad in tile-hanging. The northern section of the rear wall of the original building is predominantly built of stone rubble with random galletting, below and infilling a small section of timber framing, with a panel of early red brick above it. The roofs are clad in red plain tiles.

The house is aligned north-east to south-west, comprising three cells arranged over two storeys, with 20th-century additions. A detailed survey from 2007 identified it as a two-cell smoke-bay house with a contemporary end shot or lean-to to the north-east which was later adapted to create a full first floor. It has a steep hipped roof with a small gablet to the south, hipped to the north over the 20th-century extension. The 20th-century additions include a two-storey wing to the north-east and north, and a single-storey bay attached to the south-west corner.

On the exterior, the ground floor is of red brick in Flemish bond with burnt headers. The south-east front elevation has the upper floor clad in alternating bands of plain and fishscale tile-hanging. In the northern bay of the original building, the stubs of posts and the mid-rail of the timber frame are visible on the eastern and western elevations. The entrance on the eastern elevation is beneath the main stack, with a 20th-century door beneath a large 20th-century gabled brick porch. Windows are three-light 20th-century timber casements in the central bay and small two-light casements in the northern bay.

At the rear, the central bay has 20th-century brickwork on the ground floor with predominantly plain tile-hanging above. The northern bay has a galletted stone rubble ground floor replacing the timber frame and predominantly plain tile-hanging above, with shallow two-light casements on the ground floor beneath the mid-rail and small two-light casements elsewhere. The main stack is of red brick with a moulded collar. The 20th-century additions are built in similar materials.

Internally, apart from a section of mid-rail on the southern gable wall and an exposed section of lathe and plaster on the upper floor gable wall, the structure in the southernmost bay is covered over. The ground floor ceiling, which has been partly removed, has narrow joists. The stack is of brick and painted; at the western side it has been disturbed. The fireplace opening in the central room has been partly rebuilt, but the bressumer bears taper burns and possible apotropaic marks. The room has a transverse chamfered beam with the remains of diamond chamfer stops and, although the structure is hidden, appears to be pegged into the posts. The northern partition wall is framed in square panels and appears always to have been internal since there is no weathering on the northern face. The northern bay has more robust corner posts, the north-west post being slightly jowled but pared down in the 20th century. The bases of the posts are not visible, but the timber frame on the lateral walls appears to be pegged into the posts. Mortises for braces in the eastern posts are aligned, while the mortise in the equivalent north-west post is at a different level. This bay has a deep axial chamfered beam which is not attached at the northern end where the wall has been removed to accommodate 20th-century stairs. These incorporate two sections of wall plate or rails with diamond mortises for a mullioned window frame, one with footings for rafters on the upper surface; the corner joint is covered but the horizontal section may be in situ.

At first-floor level, the central bay has a brick fireplace with chamfered piers and a timber bressumer, probably dating from the later 17th century. This section has wide oak floorboards. New boards adjacent to the stack suggest stairs may have emerged here. Elsewhere, partitions, floorboards and other joinery have been removed.

The ceilings are boxed in and there was no access to the roofspace at the southern end of the building to confirm the roof structure and extent of smoke blackening described in the 2007 survey, which also noted the clasped purlin roof. At the northern end the roof has been rebuilt in the later 20th century with paired rafters and a ridge piece.