Ford Farmhouse

Ford Farmhouse

This is a listed Grade II farmhouse constructed from coursed stone rubble with a base of larger worked stone blocks, combined with red, red/brown and grey brick. Stone and brick dressings are used throughout, with tile roofs of which many have been replaced during recent refurbishment.

The building is arranged in an L-plan beneath hipped roofs. The main range comprises three unequal bays with the entrance positioned in the central bay. A large internal stack sits between the central and northern bays, with an additional internal south-west gable wall stack. The structure is two storeys with attics accommodated in the roof space, which has been recently opened up. To the rear, a short two-storey rear wing projects to the north and contains an internal gable wall stack. Attached to this wing is a single-storey range comprising the former dairy and outbuildings. A pitched-roofed single-storey rear wing extends to the north-west with its own internal gable wall stack. A 21st-century garage is attached to the north and is excluded from the listing.

On the front elevation, the ground floor is predominantly built in stone rubble set on lower courses of large worked stone blocks, with the outer bays featuring chamfered plinths. The southern bay retains the stub of a stone buttress at its angle and has been rebuilt in the past. Doorcase and window openings in the outer bays are set in stone reveals, while the window in the inner bay has brick reveals. The entrance has been reduced and infilled in brick beneath a round arch, with a 21st-century door and fanlight. Ground floor windows have 19th or 20th century cambered brick arches and 21st-century three-light timber casements. The first floor is built in brick above a brick storey band, constructed in an irregular bond except for the central bay which is predominantly Flemish bond. Windows are set under recessed cambered arches, each of three lights like those below, except for a single-light window in front of the stack marking the position of a former closet. A moulded timber box cornice, continuing across the side and rear elevations of the main range, has been restored during recent refurbishment. The ridge stack is of 19th-century brick.

The south-west gable wall is predominantly coursed stone rubble except where the brick upper floor continues on the return wall and is used in the stack. The wall is patched in 19th-century brick and window openings are also in 19th-century brick reveals. Windows are 21st-century timber casements, with the upper floor window in an enlarged opening. The refurbished rear wing continues in coursed stone rubble with brick dressings that include a blocked arched opening on the ground floor and a brick dentil cornice. The upper courses of the stack are rebuilt in 19th and 20th or 21st-century brick. The rear wall has been pushed out in brick between the outer bays and has replacement 21st-century timber windows and doors. A 21st-century dormer and flush windows have been inserted in the roof.

The north-east elevation, which includes the two-storey rear wing, is also built with a stone rubble ground floor on a tall chamfered stone plinth and a brick upper floor in the manner of the front elevation. A central round-headed entrance with a 21st-century panelled door is flanked by irregularly sized cambered arched windows with 21st-century timber casements on both floors, with an inserted dormer in the roof. The single-storey range of outbuildings attached to the north has a stone rubble base to the north elevation and is of later 19th and 20th-century brick elsewhere. It has replacement tile roofs and has been converted to domestic use and storage.

The interior clearly shows the three-bay plan, though the space has been refurbished and modernised. Visible historic fabric includes slender scantling timber framing on the rear internal wall of the northern room. The main stack in the northern room has a rebuilt brick fireplace beneath a timber bressumer. The stairs in the central bay have been rebuilt in the 20th century and now extend to the attic. On the first floor, a horizontal cupboard with doors fitted with strap hinges is built into the stack. The side-purlin roof is largely intact and has been strengthened during refurbishment with added collars.