Lower Hardwick House and barn

Lower Hardwick House and Barn

Lower Hardwick House is a 15th-century hall house that was substantially modified during the 16th and 17th centuries with the addition of a south crosswing, the insertion of a first floor within the hall, and the raising of roof levels. The building has undergone subsequent additions and adaptations over time. The associated barn is of probable 17th-century date with later alterations.

The pre-18th-century parts of the house are largely timber-framed with plaster, wattle and daub, and brick infill panels and repairs. Later parts are constructed of brick with some reused elements from other buildings. The façade is faced in brick and weatherboarding, with timber roofs covered in slate.

The house is of two storeys and faces east, with associated farm buildings to the north and east. The principal façade comprises three distinct brick phases with weatherboarding to the right bay. The roof is hipped to the left with a brick end stack and central and right ridge stacks. Modern timber casements are set within brick segmental arches, and a bow window has been inserted to the ground floor right. The main door, to the left of the central hall bay, is sheltered by a modern projecting timber porch of no special interest.

The south flank is timber-framed with rendered panels, an external brick stack to the right, and inserted timber casements with leaded lights. This end of the house, the cross wing, is built on a raised level above rubble stone walling. The rear of the cross wing is timber-framed with passing braces to the bottom corners and a raised gable end. A ground floor centre window is probably an adapted door opening, and there is a projecting window to the gable. The panel above the bottom right brace has a window head to the rail, pegged into a corner post. Various repairs are visible to the cross wing framing. Two 21st-century single-storey extensions are attached to the rear of the hall and are of no special interest. The rear wall of the hall is timber-framed with a dormer stair window breaking through the eaves. Further left is a change in eave height and shallower roof pitch, with timber-framed walls that are weatherboarded above modern brick cill walls.

The historic layout of the house remains discernible though now altered. The main door opens into the former open hall. A counter-change ceiling, inserted during the 17th century, mostly survives, spanning the hall and terminating at the north end with a large stone inglenook fireplace and the foot of a smoke-blackened cruck blade. The rear of the ceiling has been truncated for the insertion of a late 20th-century oak stair. The ceiling features deeply chamfered principal beams and exposed unchamfered joists, some of which are modern replacements. The inglenook has an oak bressumer with a chamfered arch and taper burn marks to its front face. The fireplace has undergone alterations including the insertion of steels and concrete beams, and a bread oven to the rear appears to have been removed.

The northern end of the house has been remodelled at ground floor level and is largely of modern character in a neoclassical style with reproduction fireplaces and fittings.

The four cruck blades have their feet resting on padstones on a floor laid with stone roof tiles. One blade is enclosed within an understair cupboard with a pier of handmade red brick. This blade rises behind the stair to the roof apex as a complete smoke-blackened cruck blade with decorative cusping. Other decorative elements of this open truss have been removed to accommodate a first floor and for the insertion of a wide stone chimneybreast above the inglenook. The opposing cruck blade has had a section completely removed, resulting in movement at apex level. A second smoke-blackened cruck truss with no cusping forms the south end of the hall. At ground floor level this truss is closed within a stud wall with a stone cill wall and wattle and daub infill. The base of the cruck blade by the front door has been cut out to form a wider doorway into the cross wing. The base of the opposing blade is intact with some adaptation to the framing around it, adjoining the timber-framed rear wall by the stair.

Behind the framed south wall of the cross wing is a possible former medieval screen that survives as a post and crossbeam. The post rises to first floor level where it has been truncated but remains in position between bedroom doorways.

The two-bay cross wing extends west beyond the rear building line of the hall. The ground floor room to the east has two chamfered beams that are stopped at the west end, in addition to the screen crossbeam. An inserted stone fireplace stands on the south wall with an oak bressumer. The west room, the kitchen, has two chamfered beams and other exposed framing. At first floor level, both rooms share an exposed timber-framed wall with some replaced elements. The 17th-century roof structure above contains some modern replaced timbers and adjoins the apex of the south cruck truss. The two bedrooms in the cross wing are at different floor heights, with a step up into the first-floor area above the hall. A corridor to the left of the stone inglenook breast leads to the later parts of the house to the north. A room behind the chimney breast has a small iron fireplace with stone hearth and a 17th-century doorframe with plank door and iron fitments. Other first-floor rooms have no visible historic fittings, and two timber wall posts in the north bedroom appear to be reused from elsewhere. The north end of the house is of lesser interest but may contain remains of earlier structures on the site concealed within it.

The barn is of timber-frame construction, probable 17th-century date, comprising four bays with opposing doorways and weatherboarding. The exterior of the north wall is a complete exposed pegged timber frame. The closed trusses have braces to the tie beams, high collars, brick cill walls, and two sets of purlins. At least one cusped brace is most likely reused from the 15th-century roof in the house. An attached lofted byre is positioned at the east end, fitted with stalls and a timber manger. The timber-framed south wall of the byre is a 21st-century replacement. Some of the floors are covered in cobblestones. A 20th-century lean-to glasshouse is attached to the west wall of the barn and is of no special interest.