Higher Farmhouse

Higher Farmhouse is a farmhouse, now a house, dating from the 16th century with alterations from the 17th century. It is built of squared and coursed limestone and features a stone-coped thatch roof, with pantiles at the rear and a brick ridge stack. The original 16th-century structure has a three-unit plan, with two integral units at the rear left formed from a tall outshut, and a smoke bay. The building has two storeys and an attic, with a three-window range. The front has a 20th-century thatch porch and mullioned windows. The right-hand (south) gable includes 17th-century ovolo-moulded stone-mullioned windows. Inside, there are 16th-century chamfered beams with keeled stops and a 17th-century fireplace featuring depressed centred arches. There is also a 16th-century plank and muntin screen in the room on the right and in the rear outshut. The 17th-century stair has solid timber treads, and the first-floor doorways have depressed four-centred heads, with a jointed cruck roof. This farmhouse is an exceptionally early example of a 16th-century house with an integral rear outshut.