The Brook House

HIMBLETON CP HIMBLETON SO 95 NW 6/155 (19/5) The Brook House (formerly listed as 29.12.52 Himbleton House) - II

Farmhouse, now house. Late C16 with mid-C19 alterations; restored 1933. Timber-framed with painted brick and rendered infill on lias limestone rubble base; plain tiled roofs. Originally a hall and cross-wing plan; hall of two framed bays aligned north/south with external sandstone ashlar chimney at rear having a chamfered plinth and a pair of star-shaped stacks to its south elevation; this was enclosed in 1933 by the addition of two further framed bays continuing the main roof ridge with a gable-end external chimney similar to the hall chimney; large gables were added to front and rear of the original hall and the addition to flank the now centrally- positioned cross-wing. Two storeys and attic with decorated bargeboards. Framing: four panels from sill to wall-plate, short straight braces across upper corners and collar and tie-beam trusses with two collars, close-set studding to lower collar, two struts above and concave V-strut in apex; cross-wing attic storey is jettied to west on richly carved consoles. West elevation: wood-mullioned windows with leaded casements throughout; original hall has two ground- and first-floor 4-light windows and a first- floor 3-light window; cross-wing gable end has a 3-light and a 4-light window on both floors and the addition to right has a 4-light and a 5-light ground-floor window, three 2-light and one 3-light first-floor windows. Main entrance in timber-framed gabled porch adjoining at outshut to the rear of the north bay; entrance has moulded architrave, flanking carved Ionic half-columns and a C17 door. Interior: original part noted as having stop- chamfered main beams, panelled ground-floor rooms incorporating some C17 work and a staircase with turned balusters. C19 and C20 rear additions include ogee-arched doorway, possibly late medieval in origin. Lead rain- water goods have cable mouldings and are dated 1760. (VCH 3 (ii), p 391).

Listing NGR: SO9449058389