Ffinnant Farmhouse

The house is a farmhouse of L-plan, originally dating back to an earlier north/south range, which was originally two storeys high and subsequently heightened. The front (north) is a mix of black and white timbering and brick nogging, with cream-painted brickwork at the rear. A later single-storey wing is attached to the east, built in white-painted stone. The house has slate roofs with tile ridges. Notable features include a splendid three-stack ribbed stone chimney to the west gable, a plain stone mid-stack corbelled out on the main range roof, and a brick end-chimney to the single-storey wing, incorporating carved heads within the chimney shaft.

The north elevation displays an exposed cruck truss of the original hall-house, cut by 18th-century heightening featuring smaller timber framing. The main entrance, a plain boarded door, is located on the right return gable. To the right is a two-window box-framed wing with lozenge-patterned square panels on the first floor, and close-studding with a roll-moulded bressummer set below. The right-hand two metres of the ground and first storeys of this wing are constructed of brick, featuring a camber-headed doorway and a blind panel, possibly originally bearing an inscription. Casement windows, partially respecting original openings, are also present. A single-storey stone kitchen wing is attached to the east, with a semi-glazed door and a steel window.

The rear of the house has been reconstructed in brick. The windows are horned six or twelve-pane sash windows, irregularly spaced, and there is a gable porch to the angle. The east side features small-pane metal-frame windows.

An inspection in 1992 revealed that the interior’s layout isn’t certain, but it appears to retain three cruck couples and a post and panel partition built on a rubble plinth, with an ornately carved and chamfered post indicating a two-bay hall. This hall was later ceiled with a massively chamfered cross beam. A back-to-back fireplace, featuring a massive lintel, was inserted within a cruck truss during the remodelling of the mid-17th century, alongside a salt cupboard and a door leading to a narrow, wainscotted passage past a chimney into an outer room. The earlier parts of the house retain close-studded partitions, with square panelling on the end walls and close studding on the lateral walls. Original plank and muntin doors and some early fielded panelling remain. Simple 19th-century stairs were added, and cruck trusses are visible in the attic, including one with a broken section above floor level, alongside square set purlins. A further cruck bay to the south end may have been lost; an 18th-century A-frame was added for heightening. The box-framed west wing originally had its own entrance and may have been planned as an independent dwelling. The parlour fireplace, associated with the ribbed stacks, is distinguished by a broad cambered voussoir arch.