Herkstead Green Farmhouse (EHER 29543)

16th and 17th century timber-framed house.

House is of the 16th and 17th centuries, and altered in the 20th century. It is timber-framed, plastered, and roofed with handmade red clay tiles. It has a mid 16th century three-bay crosswing aligned approximately north-south, with a 17th century three-bay range to west, forming an L-plan. There is a 17th century lean-to stair tower in the south-west angle. It is two storeys. At the time of survey, October 1983, the building was in course of renovation and no doors or windows were fitted. It has jowled posts and heavy studding. The crosswing has additional jowls at first floor level, plain-chamfered binding and bridging beams with step stops, joists of horizontal section, curved tension braces trenched inside the studs, short arched braces to one inner tiebeam. The east wall has a face-halved scarf bladed at one end and housed at the other, with an unglazed window of three diamond mullions in situ. The roof is of clasped purlin construction with high collars and curved wind bracing. The east-west range has re-used studs in the walls and some re-used smoke-blackened rafters, and probably replaces an open hall on the same site. The axial beams are plain-chamfered with die-away stops. Both wallplates have face-halved and bladed scarfs. The roof is of clasped purlin construction without wind bracing. The chimney stack has a large wood-burning hearth to the west and a smaller hearth with rounded rear angles to the east. <1> See: <2>