Porch House

This is a late medieval farmhouse, now a dwelling, dating from the Late Medieval period. It was ceiled, meaning its open-hall structure was partitioned off, in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. The south gable end was rebuilt or refaced in the mid-19th century, and the roof was raised on the southern half of the east front. It was restored and largely refenestrated in the late 20th century.

The west wall is constructed of cob, now rendered. The south gable end is built of squared and coursed Ham stone and blue lias with a high plinth. The east front was rebuilt in squared and coursed local stone to the southern hall, with random rubble to the lower northern part, incorporating some courses of laid stonework below the windows. The thatched roof has coped verges; a catslide continues over the south-west bay. Rebuilt brick stacks are located at the gable ends and the north end of the hall.

The house is L-shaped, with the south gable end facing the road. Originally, it was an open-hall house, later ceiled into a three-cell layout with a cross passage and an outshot in the south-west corner.

The west front has one 3-light casement in an eyebrow dormer, and a 20th-century doorway masked by a 20th-century addition. Below this is a 3-light window, a pointed lancet window to the stair, and a 3-light casement. The remains of a chamfered Tudor arch head doorway are now blocked in the lower half and glazed above. A 20th-century door is located in the re-entrant angle of the outshot, with a 4-light window between stepped buttresses.

The east front features three 3-light windows set below the eaves to the left, and ground-floor 4- and 3-light casements flanking a thatched hooded porch. To the right are 3- and 2-light windows below wooden lintels.

The north front is accessed at first-floor level by a lateral stone stair. The south gable end has a chamfered 2-light stone mullioned casement with a hoodmould, instead of a lintel, lighting the outshot, and may be a reused feature.

The interior is reportedly home to remains of plank and muntin screens to the through passage, with shaped heads to the doorframes, and a plank and muntin partition to the outshot, although these may have been removed during modernization. A timber-framed firehood is said to be present near the hall stack. The stairs are now resited against the west wall. Evidence suggests the presence of three pairs of jointed cruck trusses, one of which shows evidence of smoke blackening.