Steynes Farmhouse

Steynes Farmhouse is a farmhouse dating back to approximately 1600, with possible earlier origins, and featuring alterations and additions from the 17th century and a brick refronting in the late 18th century. The structure is timber-framed with rendered wattle-and-daub and brick infill panels. The timber framing consists of large square panels with curved tension braces. The rear of the frame is underbuilt in red brick, and the entire front was refronted with English bond brick. It has a hipped thatched roof with a central axial brick stack.

The original plan included two framed bays flanking a central narrow bay, potentially a former smoke-bay, although evidence of smoke-blackening on the rafters is minimal. Later 17th-century half-bay lean-to additions were built at each end, with a sole plate cut to provide access into the right-hand ground-floor room. A winder stair is located at the rear of the stack, and there was likely a former lobby entry at the front, which was altered during the late 18th-century refronting.

The exterior is two storeys and an attic. Most windows are 3- and 4-light wooden casements; the first-floor windows are largely from the late 18th century, with ovolo-moulded mullions. A late 18th-century one-light metal casement is located on the first floor to the right. A 20th-century gabled porch covers the doorway to the left of the stack. A 17th-century 3-light ovolo-moulded mullioned window is at the rear on the left-hand side, with one light blocked.

Inside, there are chamfered axial beams and joists; a beam in the right-hand ground floor room has broach stops. A 17th-century winder staircase has a 20th-century balustrade. Mortices on the underside of the tie-beams flanking the stack, at the head of the stairs, indicate former stud partitions, revealing the position of former doorways into rooms on each side. A mortice on the underside of the eastern tie-beam shows where a former large curved brace, relating to a jowled post, was located, suggesting evidence of a former central smoke-bay or a remodelling of an earlier house.