Stoke Park Farmhouse

Stoke Park Farmhouse

A large farmhouse dated 1744, with a late 19th-century addition at the rear. The building is constructed of red brick with grey sandstone ashlar dressings and is roofed with plain tiles. The main house is three storeys tall, with a two-storey addition at the rear.

The south-west front features chamfered quoins, a moulded plinth, and a moulded string course between the ground and first floors, with a moulded eaves cornice above. The roofline is punctuated by a brick ridge stack, positioned off-centre to the left, and an external lateral brick stack at the rear. The façade is arranged in a 2:1:2 bay pattern. The windows are glazing bar sashes with exposed boxes, moulded stone cills, and rusticated stone lintels with raised keystones. A central panelled door of six raised and fielded panels is topped by a three-part rectangular overlight and surrounded by a stone doorcase consisting of a lugged architrave and frieze with a central uncarved block, with plain console brackets supporting a triangular pediment. The right and left return fronts each have two bays, mostly featuring blind windows with trompe l'oeil glazing bar sashes. The rear elevation has a chamfered plinth and toothed-brick eaves cornice, with two bays to the right containing glazing bar sashes. A lead rainwater head is dated "17 EC 44".

A late 19th-century wing is attached at the rear, consisting of two storeys with a hipped roof, sashes with gauged brick heads and raised keystones.

An adjoining 18th-century service block stands at the rear, also of red brick with red sandstone ashlar dressings and a plain tile roof. This block is one storey with an attic storey. It features chamfered quoins and kneelers, a chamfered plinth, plat bands, and a toothed-brick eaves cornice. A parapeted gable end to the south-east has chamfered stone coping and an integral brick end stack. The south-west front has a central gabled eaves dormer with a two-light wooden casement and moulded barge boards. To the left is a blocked or blind window with a stone cill and keyed stone lintel, and to the right a boarded door. A late 19th-century glazed lean-to addition is attached to the front. The left-hand gable end has a first-floor leaded wooden cross window with a stone cill and keyed stone lintel, and a blind ground-floor window to the left with a stone cill and keyed stone lintel; a 20th-century lean-to addition stands to the right. The rear elevation features a central gabled eaves dormer and two segmental-headed wooden cross windows, the right-hand example with a lowered cill.

The interior of the main house is largely intact with 18th-century fixtures and fittings. The staircase hall features a moulded cornice. A dog-leg staircase rises through two storeys with landings, open string with cut brackets, turned balusters (two per tread), turned columnar newel posts, and a moulded ramped handrail. The right-hand ground-floor room has raised and fielded panelling with a dado rail and moulded dentil cornice. The fireplace features a marble surround with a lugged architrave decorated with egg and dart enrichment, a moulded dentil cornice, and a lugged panel also decorated with egg and dart enrichment. The left-hand ground-floor room has raised and fielded panelling with a dado rail and moulded cornice, and a fireplace with an altered composition but retaining an 18th-century lugged panel above. Two smaller panelled rooms to the left contain doors with six raised and fielded panels and moulded architraves.

The staircase is approached from the rear of the house rather than from the front door, as would be more conventional. A blocked doorway in the rear wall at the foot of the stairs suggests that a principal entrance formerly existed at this location before the 19th-century wing was added. There is no evidence that the staircase has been altered. The "EC" on the rainwater head may refer to a member of the Corbet family, who owned land in this area.

This is a well-detailed and largely complete example of a substantial mid-18th-century farmhouse.