Little Brampton Farmhouse

Little Brampton Farmhouse

This is a timber-framed farmhouse dating from the mid-16th century with additions from the early and late 17th or early 18th centuries, and minor 20th-century alterations. The building features a sandstone rubble plinth and wattle-and-daub infill, with the exterior completely rendered except for the north-east side of the cross-wing. The later additions are of painted sandstone rubble. The roof is stone slate, with a hipped corrugated asbestos roof covering the later stone south-west block.

The plan consists of a central two-storey hall aligned north-east to south-west with flanking cross-wings. The north-east cross-wing projects to the north-west front, while the south-west cross-wing projects to the south-east front. A 17th-century two-storey porch with a small lean-to added to its western side projects to the south-east front. A large 17th-century stone lean-to addition stands on the north-west front against the south-west end of the hall. A large rectangular block was added to the south-west end of the house during the late 17th or early 18th century.

The heating system comprises a large axial stack backing onto the through-passage in the hall, with a further stack at the junction with the later south-west addition. A lateral stack serves the later block. A stack formerly stood at the south-east gable end of the north-east cross-wing; the fireplace remains intact internally.

The north-east cross-wing features a projecting stair turret with a stone winder staircase. The two-storey hall is jettied to both fronts, as are the two-storey cross-wings, which have jettied gables to the north-west and south-east fronts respectively. The two-storey added south-west block is not jettied.

On the north-west entrance front, the gable end of the cross-wing to the left displays a central 3-light metal-framed casement window with a small multi-paned light to its right. The central hall has one leaded 2-light casement window and one 3-light casement window. To the right of the doorway is a large 3-light casement window with a ledged door. The later lean-to projects forward to the right and has one 2-light casement window and a ledged door to its eastern return. The large later block to the right has one cross-casement window and two blocked openings, with a part-glazed door to the ground floor to the left of a large 3-light 20th-century multi-paned window.

The south-east front presents the earlier house with a 3-light casement window and 3-light French casement window to the projecting gable end of the cross-wing. The hall has one 2-light and one 3-light casement window, with one similar 3-light window to the ground floor. The two-storey porch gable end, to the right of the hall, has a 3-light casement window, with a single light in the adjoining lean-to to its left. An inner doorway has a broad ledged door. A small window serves the stair turret to the right of the porch. The later block adjoining to the left of the earlier wing has three blocked window openings on its upper floor and one 2-light 20th-century window to the far left on the ground floor.

The timber framing is largely hidden by render, though a section of square-panelled framing is revealed on the north-east side of the north-east cross-wing, and close-studding is visible to the interior of the upper room of the porch. The upper storey of the hall is carried on a plain bressummer with curved brackets springing from shaped shafts to the wall-posts. The jetty of the north-east cross-wing features a decorated bressummer carved with a scrolled foliage motif, with shaped brackets and shafts to the wall-posts. The jetty of the south-west cross-wing has a plain bressummer and brackets with traces of similarly shaped shafts below. The 17th-century porch has a moulded bressummer.

The interior retains a fine cross-beamed ceiling in the hall with deeply chamfered beams. The lean-to on the north-west side houses a framed newel staircase with moulded rails, square newels with shaped finials, and shaped splat balusters. The stone winder staircase has a central wooden newel post. The upper room of the hall features bolection-moulded panelling, and the upper room of the later block retains traces of plaster ceiling decoration.