Farmhouse at Newland Court

Farmhouse at Newland Court

This farmhouse dates from around 1801 and incorporates an earlier dwelling, with mid and late 19th-century additions and refurbishment, followed by minor 20th-century alterations. It is constructed of red brick in English garden wall bond, roofed with slate and plain tiles, with brick chimney stacks.

The plan consists of a single-depth front range oriented north-east to south-west, containing two principal ground-floor rooms and an entrance hall opening onto a rear stair hall in a projecting bay. Two lower parallel wings from the early and mid-19th century extend to the rear. A late-19th-century addition occupies the south end of the front range, with a south-east wing—originally a farm building—that projects forward.

The front range rises three storeys with a small cellar beneath; the rear wings and south-east wing are two storeys. The principal south-east facing elevation displays four sash windows per floor: sixteen-pane sashes to the ground floor, twelve-pane to the first floor, and nine-pane to the attic, all with glazing bars and stone sills. Cambered brick voussoirs frame the lower two floors. The ground-floor windows to bays one and two sit slightly lower and misaligned with those above, positioned to accommodate the entrance which straddles these bays; bay one's window is also notably lower. The early-19th-century door features four sunken upper panels, a flush lower half, and a cambered head, with a late-19th-century open timber porch added in front. The north-east gable end is blank; the adjoining wing to the right has two- and three-light casements—one with leaded panes—under cambered heads at ground level, and a sixteen-pane sash and single-light window to the first floor. To the rear, the left wing has a ground-floor camber-arched window (boarded over in 2019) and a first-floor sash. The earlier adjoining wing to the right contains an external stack and ground-floor window (boarded); its right return has a ground-floor window (boarded) under a cambered head and an entrance with an early-19th-century plank door and leaded rectangular fanlight, together with a square-headed two-light timber casement of two glazing bars at first-floor level. A lean-to canopy roof supported on metal uprights has been added. The rear elevation of the front range and the earlier rear wing feature eaves cornices of header bricks. The projecting stair bay has a two-light casement with leaded panes between ground and first floors—partly obscured by the late-19th-century extension—and a casement at attic level. The adjacent late-19th-century extension wraps around the south-west end of the front range with casement windows and an entrance. The south-east wing, formerly a farm building, exhibits dentilled eaves cornices to its north and south elevations. The north elevation contains a small timber first-floor window and an external stack; the south-west gabled end has sixteen-pane sashes to ground and first floors; the north-east elevation displays a ground-floor sash window and a first-floor three-light casement.

Internally, evidence suggests the ground and first-floor circulation was reconfigured during the first half of the 19th century when a spine corridor was created within the rear wings, running parallel with the rear wall of the front range, likely to separate the family from servants' quarters. Further circulation changes occurred in the late 19th century when the south-east wing was incorporated into the main house. The interior retains numerous features including early-19th-century panelled doors and plank doors, some with strap hinges, skirting boards, and a closed-string staircase with twisted-section balusters, octagonal newels with flat octagonal caps, and a moulded handrail. Some doors are mid and late-19th-century replacements. The entrance hall contains a mid-19th-century wooden fireplace surround, while the drawing room and snug have simple marble and timber fire surrounds respectively, both with tiled splayed sides and late-19th-century dates. Ground-floor fittings in the south-east wing include recessed shelving, panelled window reveals and shutters, and a wooden fire surround with bracketed mantle shelf, all late 19th century. The earlier rear wing contains a large blocked fireplace with a cambered-arched surround with mouldings below the mantle, and a back staircase with stick balusters at first-floor level. The adjoining later wing, possibly formerly a dairy, is unheated at ground level with a flagged floor, shelves of brick and slate, and high shuttered windows. The first floor of the front range contains Arts and Crafts-style Edwardian fire surrounds in three bedrooms and a mid-19th-century fireplace in the fourth. The main staircase continues to the attic with an upper section featuring stick balusters and a plain handrail. Four bedrooms occupy the attic; only the rooms at either end are heated and feature timber fire surrounds with simple mouldings and hob grates, plank doors with strap finishes, and plain skirting. The roof was not inspected in 2019.