Bicton Grove Farmhouse

Bicton Grove Farmhouse is a farmhouse built around 1700, refenestrated and extended in the early 19th century. It is constructed of red brick with a hipped slate roof, built to a square plan and rising two storeys with an attic storey.

The south-east front features a plinth with a chamfered stone top and a moulded wooden eaves cornice. A pair of brick stacks rises to the return ridges. Two hipped dormers with moulded wooden cornices and 20th-century wooden casements sit above a two-window front. The windows are boxed glazing bar sashes with gauged-brick heads. A central 18th-century boarded door with a beaded oak frame and 20th-century architrave occupies the centre, with decorative panels to the interior, wrought-iron strap hinges and an old lock. A late 20th-century lean-to conservatory has been added in front of the door and left-hand window. The left-hand return front contains a single hipped dormer, a pair of first-floor sashes, and a ground-floor sash to the left. The rear elevation shows a 2:1 window arrangement; the right-hand first-floor window is blocked and the left-hand ground-floor window was altered in the early 19th century, featuring a visibly altered head and 20th-century casement. An 18th-century boarded door with wrought-iron strap hinges to the interior sits between the first and second windows from the right, topped with a flat hood on shaped brackets. An early 19th-century two-storey kitchen wing extends to the north-east, constructed in brick with a ridge stack, 2-light windows to each floor to the left and a boarded door to the right.

The interior preserves fine fixtures and fittings dating to around 1700. The entrance hall has raised and fielded dado panelling, with the wall between the hall and the left-hand ground-floor room removed. A panelled cupboard sits to the left of the fireplace. A round archway opens into the staircase hall, framed by cable-fluted Doric antae with a panelled soffit, panelled spandrels and moulded cornice breaking forward over a central keystone.

The staircase hall itself contains raised and fielded dado panelling and an unusually fine oval-well staircase rising to the attic. This staircase rises via a single swept flight to each storey, constructed with a closed string, tapered treads, cable-fluted bottle-shaped turned balusters and a foot newel, together with a ramped toad-backed walnut handrail. The dado panelling is ramped and fielded. The balusters to the lower flight are of an unusual wood, possibly walnut, whilst the balusters to the upper flight are of oak. This striking swept-flight form is uncommon in minor houses of this date.

The right-hand ground-floor front room was formerly an 18th-century kitchen and contains a large elliptical-arched fireplace with staff moulding. The left-hand ground-floor rear room retains complete circa 1700 fittings except for the fireplace. It features oak raised and fielded panelling with shaped heads, fluted Doric pilasters and a moulded cornice breaking forward over the pilasters. A cupboard to the left of the fireplace has raised and fielded panels, and a shell niche to the right of the fireplace contains shaped shelves. The left-hand bedroom has raised and fielded panelling, a dado rail and moulded cornice. Oak doors throughout the house feature raised and fielded panels and panelled reveals. Further first-floor rooms were not inspected.

The staircase is similar, though more elaborate, to the staircase at Fitz Manor in Bomere Heath, and both were probably made by the same joiner. Although externally plain for its date, this house is made particularly special by the survival of its rich circa 1700 interior fittings.