Bradley Farm, 7, Durham Road

Bradley Farm, 7 Durham Road

This is a farmhouse with associated farm buildings. The main house dates from the 18th century and may have earlier origins. It was extended in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

The house is built of hand-made brick. The earlier sections use thin early-18th-century bricks, generally laid in irregular bond. The later sections use thicker, late-18th and early-19th-century bricks, mainly laid in English Garden Wall Bond. The front elevation is rendered and the roof is covered in pan tiles.

The house is single depth with stairs in a rear projection. The kitchen is now in the rear lean-to, but was probably formerly in the central room of the main building.

The front (north) elevation shows two storeys arranged in five bays. The second bay from the east contains the front door with a window above it. The fourth bay is blind but has a ridge stack. A second ridge stack rises from the east gable end. The windows have timber architraves and projecting sills with later replacement vertical sashes. The front door is six-panelled with an oblong overlight. The doorway has a timber architrave and a shallow hood supported by corbels. A single-storey lean-to is attached to the west gable with an inserted window.

The rear (south) elevation shows the eastern bay built of thin bricks with a blocked window opening at ground floor and an enlarged opening with modern joinery at first floor. The next bay is covered by a projecting stair tower with a gabled roof, also built of thin bricks, which has an enlarged stair window. The ground floor of the rest of the rear is covered by a multi-phased lean-to with a doorway and window. The first floor is blind and single phased, built of thicker bricks.

The west gable shows a change in brickwork indicating the heightening of this end of the house to two storeys. The original gable includes a blocked attic window. The west wall of the lean-to has a blocked doorway. The east gable displays no evidence of heightening but includes a blocked attic window.

The interior includes 19th-century joinery, including four-panelled doors with architraves. On the first floor, one room is separated from the corridor running along the length of the house by a glazed timber screen. The roof space was inaccessible at the time of inspection.

The barn stands on the north side of the yard. It is a tall single-storey structure of three bays, mainly built of thin 18th-century bricks with a rebuilt western end. On the south side (facing the yard) there is a section of plinth built of three courses of dressed stone. The uppermost three courses of brickwork step outwards to support the eaves. Single doorways face both the north and south sides. The south side also has a pair of ventilation slits and an inserted window. The roof structure consists of sawn softwood with a pair of kingpost trusses. The roof retains some pan tiles.

The stable with loft is on the west side of the yard. It comprises two bays, mainly built of thin 18th-century bricks, but the loft level facing the yard has been rebuilt with thicker late-19th-century bricks. A single stable doorway with overlight faces the yard at its centre, with a window opening to its left. The roof is covered in pan tiles.

The remaining farm buildings are all single-storey, built of thicker late-19th-century bricks with pan tile roofs supported by kingpost roof structures. Together with the two earlier farm buildings, they enclose a rectangular farmyard to the south-west of the house. A separate detached farm building lies immediately to the south.