Elm Farmhouse May 2011

Elm Farmhouse stands in the High Street. It was listed by the former Department of Environment in July 1980 as Grade II, of special interest. The department dated the property to about 1600. It is built of colour-washed roughcast over a timber frame and was later partially rebuilt in brick, the roof is thatched. The house has two storeys and has bargeboards at the gable ends. An outbuilding lies to the rear of the north end.

The Rating and Valuation Act 1925 specified that every building and piece of land in the country was to be assessed to determine its rateable value. The valuer visited Elm Farmhouse in the morning of 30th December 1926 [DV1/H52/8] and found that it was not part of Elm Farm, which had no farmhouse, but formed a separate smallholding, owned by J. Dalton and occupied by W. Sargent, who had paid £25 per annum in rent since 1914 for the house and seven acres of land.

The valuer noted: "Saw Mr. Sargent, said ground was wet & house damp". Another hand has annotated the notebook: "Nice little house. Buildings poor". The house comprised two reception rooms, a kitchen and a dining room with three bedrooms above. An earth closet stood outside. Water had to be fetched from the Crown Inn "200 yards down the road".

The farm buildings comprised: "a wood and tiled store barn; a wood and concrete stable for two horses and a food store; a brick, wood and concrete cow house for four beasts; three weather-boarded and tiled loose boxes; a small chaff house; a hen house and a wood and tiled cart shed. The valuer commented: "Buildings very small".