Farmhouse at Southwood House Farm

Farmhouse at Southwood House Farm

A double pile house of mixed dates, with the front north-east range dating to the 17th and 18th centuries and the garden south-west range added in the early 19th century. The house is constructed principally of 18th-century handmade bricks laid mostly in Flemish bond, with some brickwork of indeterminate bonding. The south-east gable end contains a small quantity of Mount Sorel rubble stone. The south-west elevation is rendered and painted white. The roof is clad in plain clay tiles.

The front north-east range has two storeys and an attic, with a 19th-century single-storey former dairy added at the north end. It presents three irregular bays beneath an M-shaped roof. The right-hand bay is very slightly recessed in line with its chimney, and a building line runs between the left and central bay at first-floor level in relation to the left-hand chimney, though there is no setback. Large gritstone quoins at the right-hand end indicate the original extent of the 17th-century house. The eaves are detailed with brick dentils, and there are two wide 19th-century ridge stacks with oversailing courses and circular clay pots.

The first bay has ground and first-floor windows with 20th-century timber casements under 18th-century segmental brick arches. A 18th-century six-panelled door with small upper panels now glazed stands beneath a pedimented shallow hood supported by shaped brackets. The second bay contains a 20th-century ground-floor bay window on a brick plinth and a first-floor window with 20th-century timber casement under an 18th-century segmental brick arch. The third bay has a 20th-century three-light casement window with a flat brick arch and a small window above with an 18th-century segmental brick arch. A mid-to-late 19th-century single-storey scullery and dairy wing, with dentilled eaves, adjoins to the right and features a door and window on its front elevation and a further door with two windows on the right return, all of 20th-century date.

The south-east gable end of the front range demonstrates various building phases: Mount Sorel rubble stone at its base, finely jointed early 18th-century brickwork at ground-floor level, and later 18th-century brickwork above. Its fenestration is similar to the front elevation, save that the ground-floor segmental brick arch is not of 18th-century date.

The early 19th-century garden range has three bays with regular fenestration of recessed eight-over-eight pane sashes with slender timber glazing bars and projecting sills, except for the central bay first-floor window which is a six-over-six pane sash. A centrally placed six-panelled door is topped by a straight-headed fanlight with geometrical glazing bars and flanked by a classical fluted doorcase with panelled soffit and jambs beneath a shallow flat canopy. Two rebuilt gable stacks with oversailing courses and clay pots crown the range. To the left, in the angle between the two ranges, sits a small two-storey gabled wing with an added conservatory porch.

Interior

The front range ground floor contains a long brick-lined passage leading through to the garden range. The front left room has a cased-in beam, timber floor, and 20th-century fireplace with tiled surround, and an earlier cellar with stone walls lies beneath it. On the right of the passage, the sitting room or former hall features a deeply moulded early 17th-century cross beam spanning onto the inglenook wall and originally spanning across the passage, unstopped at either end, with reused joinery timbers showing earlier mortice holes. The large inglenook now contains a 20th-century brick fireplace and is detailed with a plain deep bressumer with simple chamfer and stop and a moulded mantle shelf. A 18th-century salt cupboard with H-hinges stands on the left side, and a small window looks through to the adjoining room. The rear wall contains a two-light, four-pane window with an early 18th-century moulded ogee surround and sill. The kitchen in the front right corner has a plain chamfered beam with no stops and later joists, with back stairs boxed in the rear corner. An opening in the original gable wall gives access to the dairy, which has a brick floor and low-level brick shelves on arched supports.

The first floor of the front range comprises three rooms accessed via a rear corridor. The front left room has a cased-in beam and 19th-century fireplace with reeded pilasters, fluted and dentilled frieze, and moulded mantel shelf, with a semi-circular cast-iron insert, small dog grate, and blue-patterned tiled surround. The middle front room contains two whitewashed early 18th-century chamfered beams and an early 19th-century fire surround with moulded pilasters and capitals bearing a diagonal cross motif and garlanded hob grate. The front right corner room has a roughly chamfered beam and joists, whitewashed. The attic comprises three rooms with whitewashed through purlins and plank and batten doors.

The early 19th-century garden range has a central stone-flagged entrance hall with roll-moulded skirting boards and a plaster centrepiece of swirling foliage on the ceiling. The oak dog-leg staircase features a closed string with carved ends, round newel post and knop, and stick balusters supporting a moulded handrail. The hall is flanked by two reception rooms with moulded skirting boards, plastered cornices, and cased-in beams with roll-moulded edges. The windows have large moulded surrounds with incorporated shutters and panels below. The right-hand room contains a replica plain fire surround with semi-circular cast-iron insert, whilst the left-hand room has a 19th-century plain timber fire surround with diamond centrepiece and semi-circular cast-iron insert. To the left is a third room, added in the later 19th century, with one cased-in and one plain timber beam, leading to a modernised bathroom and conservatory porch. The first-floor landing has a plaster palmette centrepiece in the ceiling and is flanked by two rooms with timber panels below windows but no shutters. The right-hand room features a deeply moulded reeded plaster cornice, roll-moulded skirting board, and small replica cast-iron fireplace. The left-hand room, now a bathroom, has plainer skirting board and cornice with the fireplace blocked. A smaller room on the left retains no surviving features.

The small paved area before the north-east range is enclosed by a low brick wall containing a stone drinking trough.