Hardhurst Farm

Hardhurst Farm, Hay Lane, Wirksworth

Farmhouse with attached outbuildings and frontage enclosure wall, dating to the late 18th century with minor alterations in the late 19th and 20th centuries.

The buildings are constructed of regularly-coursed, squared gritstone with ashlar dressings and detailing. The house and western outbuilding are roofed in plain tiles, with coped gables, block kneelers, and gable and ridge chimneys to the house.

The farm comprises an in-line, linear range with a central dwelling flanked by attached farm outbuildings at the east and west ends, and a low attached frontage enclosure wall to the dwelling.

South Front

The south-facing elevation shows an asymmetrical 4-bay house of 2 storeys and attics, with near-contemporary lower outbuildings at each end. The western outbuilding shares the same frontage line, while the eastern building is set back.

The house has doorways to bays 2 and 4. The doorway to bay 2 features a quoined surround, deep chamfered lintel, and shallow bracketed flat canopy. A former 6-panel door with upper 4 panels replaced in glass occupies this opening. A similar doorway to bay 4 is now enclosed within a gabled 20th-century single-storey porch.

Above the doorway to bay 2 sits a narrow, tall 2-light transomed stair window with 2-light casement frames. To the left are 3 stacked 2-light flush-mullioned windows with 2-pane casement frames, the openings diminishing in size from ground to attic floors. To the right of the stair window, 2-light windows appear on each bay at ground and first floor levels, set at a higher level than those in bay 1, indicating different floor levels.

The low attached enclosure wall to the house frontage incorporates stone gatepiers and an integral feeding trough.

The 2-storey outbuilding to the west, formerly a cowhouse with lofts, features 2 ground floor doorways defined by monolithic jambs and deep lintels, all with herringbone tooling within margins. Three ground floor windows are present, the westernmost being a later insertion. An off-centre loft doorway is similarly detailed with a flight of stone steps and entrance landing. Two 2-light flush-mullioned windows occupy the upper floor, some lights retaining multi-pane fixed glazing. A lower outbuilding extending southwards from the west end of this structure is not of special interest.

The outbuilding to the east, formerly a stable with overloft accessed by a doorway and flight of stone steps to the east gable, features 2 doorways to the south front with ashlar quoined surrounds and massive lintels. The doorway to the east gable is similarly detailed and includes small flanking openings. Above the door lintel is an inscribed plaque reading 'NPW 1867'.

North (Rear) Elevation

The house's north elevation displays a deep full-height offshut under a continuous roof slope to the west bay, and a lower, later lean-to also to the west bay. Two-light mullioned windows appear at ground floor level—one to the centre bay and one to the west bay—with a further 2-light opening to the upper floor of the offshut's return wall.

Interior

The house retains a little-disturbed room configuration throughout, with plainly detailed finishes. Ground floor and first floor levels preserve panelled doors, original hearth surrounds with later grate inserts. Upper floor rooms contain 2 pairs of full-height panelled cupboard doors, with a smaller pair to a ground floor room. Plain stick baluster primary and secondary stairs are present throughout. All ceilings are underdrawn.

The attics show some 21st-century roof timber renewal. A barrel-vaulted cellar and the rear offshut retain sets of stone benching. The cowhouse interiors have been remodelled, but the stable retains its original stall partitions and harness hooks.

Significance

Hardhurst Farm and its attached outbuildings and frontage wall form a late 18th-century farmstead ensemble of special architectural interest in a national context. The buildings reflect the rural vernacular architectural traditions of the West Derbyshire uplands. Externally, both house and outbuildings remain little altered, with distinctive detailing and consistently high-quality masonry throughout. The interior, though plainly detailed, retains much of its original plan and original or near-contemporary fixtures and fittings.