Flimston Farmhouse

Flimston Farmhouse is a building of considerable historical importance, originally a medieval first-floor hall-house that was significantly extended around 1600 to become a three-unit farmhouse, with further alterations in the 18th and 19th centuries. The house has been disused since at least 1938, when the Army Range was established, and now stands as a roofless ruin.

The current structure largely reflects the alterations made around 1600 and faces east. The layout includes a room to the south which may have been a service room, followed by a through-passage, the site of what was likely a kitchen or hall, and a parlour cross-wing. The cross-wing projects to the rear, with the staircase positioned in the corner between the main range and the wing. A half-octagon extension is present to the south. The earlier parts of the building are constructed from local limestone rubble, with the front later rendered. The roof pitch is approximately 45 degrees. Traces of earlier construction indicate the house was originally a hall-house, with a solar (a private chamber) located in the north cross-wing. A solar hearth and circular chimney are found at the north side of the cross-wing, supported by corbels both internally and externally. The hearth is at a low level, suggesting a previously lower solar floor distinct from the main chamber floor. The bressummer above the hearth is chamfered and rests on quarter-round corbels.

Within the gable wall of the south room, there's the arch of a large, now blocked, hearth, containing a large oven on one side and a smaller oven on the other, alongside a large square chimney. Later alterations include a substantial service room added at the south end, built with a mixture of random rubble and old bricks. A gable chimney from the original south room was reused by blocking its arch and creating an opening into the new service room.

Rear additions, consisting mainly of brickwork, include small rooms and a porch. The room to the north of the through-passage and the lower storey of the cross-wing have been combined into a single room, featuring a front-wall fireplace whose flue runs diagonally to the apex of the cross-wing’s front gable. Internal walls are prepared with battens and lath for plastering. A vaulted cellar, with its floor approximately 0.5 meters below the general ground floor level, was possibly inserted in the rear of the old parlour at the northwestern corner of the house, likely as part of the aforementioned alterations. Entry is gained from beneath the staircase. A large external water cistern is situated adjacent to the cellar, to the north of the building.

The building is listed at Grade II*, despite its ruinous condition, due to its significance as an example of both early and post-medieval domestic architecture. Ancient Monument number is Pe 447.