The Old Well House, Broome Barn and Meadow Barn

The Old Well House, Broome Barn and Meadow Barn

A multi-phase former farm complex consisting of a house dating principally from the 17th century with an attached barn range thought to date from the late 18th or early 19th century.

The farmhouse is constructed primarily of timber frame, which sits in part on a stone plinth and in part on brick. The barn range is of brick with timber roof structures. All are under tile roofs. The farm complex is L-shaped in plan, with the farmhouse aligned roughly east-west and the barn range extending south from the east end of the farmhouse.

The farmhouse, now known as the Old Well House, is approached from the north. On this north side, three bays of its timber frame are exposed. The ground floor is of brick with three mid-20th-century oriel windows, and the framing above is three square panels high with straight tension braces and brick infill, with three paired casement windows. To the west is a brick extension with a catslide roof which contains the main entrance; the roof above this has three tall diamond chimney shafts. The western end has a further extension with applied timber framing. Both gable ends of the main house are brick.

The southern elevation of the house is primarily of brick, although sections of external stone walling survive, now within the modern conservatory addition attached to the western end of the house. The fenestration is irregular and mainly consists of casement windows in cambered-head surrounds. The second floor has two multi-pane windows, one of which is a horizontal sliding sash. There is a projecting gabled extension at the east end and in the angle between this and the main house there is a projecting curved window at first-floor level.

The northern end of the barn range forms the garage to the Old Well House, with a modern garage door in its gable end and a single window and the remains of a hoist above. The western elevation of the barn range is of brick with some evidence of sections of rebuilding. The central portion has ventilation holes surviving in the brickwork and engineering brick in rows alternating with red brick. At the southern end, the rear of what is now Meadow Barn has brick dentilled eaves laid diagonally.

To the east is a further modern garage door towards the northern end of the barn. Beyond this is the section now known as Broome Barn, which has large window and door openings where the central barn doors would have been, and further windows with cambered heads and a door to the right.

Meadow Barn at the southern end is joined but of separate construction from the main barn and stands slightly further east. It has piers with rounded edges probably denoting the location of a former open-sided cow shed.

The Old Well House is entered through the lean-to extension at its western end which contains a modern stair and has sections of exposed stone walling at first-floor level. At ground-floor level, the main building is effectively divided into three rooms, with further rooms in the extension to the west. The original external wall at the western end has its stone walling exposed in places, with various openings and a principal beam, chamfered with run-out stops, which appears to be a replacement of an earlier, larger beam. There is a large axial stack with back-to-back fireplaces and a large timber lintel over the fireplace, chamfered with a step stop at one end. The next room has another large lintel over the fire with step stops and numerous markings along the lintel. The main ceiling beam is chamfered with step stops, and the joists are not chamfered. In this room a brick stair gives access to a two-roomed cellar below with brick walls and barrel-vaulted ceilings. Beyond at ground floor, sections of the timber frame are exposed with evidence of the pegged construction in situ. Beyond this, the infilled section between the house and the barn contains a modern stair which gives access to the upper floor of the barn.

The first floor of the house has much exposed framing with ceiling beams chamfered with either run-out or step stops. There is one fireplace with a modern inserted surround beneath an older chamfered lintel. The main bedroom has a substantial section of framing exposed which clearly shows the original pitch of the roof before the height was raised. At second-floor level, the base of the diamond chimney stacks can be seen in what is now a small cupboard with framing exposed, where it appears the roof has been raised around the stack which already existed. The bedroom adjacent again shows the raising of the roof with two sets of principal rafters and large purlins which may have been re-used. The roof at the far eastern end of the building is modern and the gable end wall is blockwork internally.

The garage which forms the northern end of the barn range also has sections of blockwork construction with some brick and a large chamfered beam supporting the first-floor ceiling. The roof structure of the upper floor suggests that the northern end may have been extended or rebuilt, with a later truss and purlins at a different level from those adjacent.

The interiors of Broome Barn and Meadow Barn have been converted to residential use and appear to retain no historic features of particular note other than the surviving roof structures. The trusses in Broome Barn are of queen-post construction and retain historic purlins. In Meadow Barn the trusses are king-post with struts, and this roof retains its purlins and most common rafters.