Pooty Pools farmhouse, barns, stables and granary

Pooty Pools is a Grade II listed farmhouse with associated barns, stables and granary.

THE FARMHOUSE

A timber-framed continuous-jetty house with pargetted walls decorated with chevron patterns and a tiled roof. The building is two storeys, four bays, set on a brick plinth with a hipped roof incorporating gablets. An off-centre 16th-century ridge stack, rebuilt from roof height, stands alongside an additional stack at the south end. The west-facing jetty is ornamented with five moulded timber brackets.

The ground floor features three late 18th or early 19th-century ten-over-ten flush sash windows, while the first floor has two five-over-ten flush sash windows. The entrance door is 20th-century, as is the right-hand first-floor casement window. The south elevation displays a flush three-over-six sash window at ground floor level and two 20th-century casements above. The rear elevation includes a two-storey projecting wing with various 20th-century casements on both floors, and a single-storey 20th-century outshot with pent roof on the north elevation.

The interior reflects the original hall-house arrangement with a central hall, parlour to the north and service end to the south. On the ground floor, the far right-hand room exposes jowled corner posts and midrails. The central room contains chamfered axial and transverse bridging beams of substantial scantling with stops; the transverse beam is carved with the date 1795, though this does not represent the building's original construction date. Structural elements in the southern room are encased, with no exposed studs visible.

The first floor retains jowled corner and storey posts, tie beams with straps and wall plates in the north-west, north-east and central rooms. The central room's tie beam is slightly cranked with one surviving arched brace, both ends resting on substantial jowled storey posts. The south-east corner post of the southern room remains exposed.

The roof comprises coupled principal rafters and clasped purlins, with two windbraces on the rear pitch and one on the front. Right-hand and left-hand room cross walls consist of timber studs with wattle and daub partitions. The substantial 16th-century stack survives to ridge height.

THE BARNS

A late 17th-century barn joined at an angle to a late 18th-century barn, creating a cranked plan. Both are timber-framed with generally replaced weatherboard cladding and corrugated metal roof covering.

The late 17th-century barn comprises five bays with a tall midstrey on the west elevation facing the yard, featuring double doors hung on strap hinges. To the right are 20th-century infill sheds beneath pent roofs. The adjoining late 18th-century barn to the south also has five bays plus an additional angled bay linking the two structures. It similarly features a west-facing midstrey with double doors on strap hinges, though broader and shorter than the earlier barn.

The late 17th-century barn's timber frame is of substantial scantling with face-halved and bladed scarf joints, straight primary bracing including wall posts and wall plates, and a side purlin roof with coupled principal rafters. Some common rafters and studs have been replaced. The late 18th-century barn employs lighter scantling with bolted knee braces to the tie beams; wall posts, wall plate and most studs remain, though some replacement has occurred.

SUBSIDIARY FEATURES

A separate wash-house stands to the rear of the farmhouse. A 19th-century timber-framed stable with weatherboard cladding and asbestos roof covering is attached to the west of the late 17th-century barn, featuring a stable door with strap hinges and latches. An early to mid-19th-century timber-framed granary with brick panels and some weatherboard cladding stands on the west side of the yard, with a tiled and corrugated metal roof of varying height. A later shelter shed is attached to the granary's west elevation. A further shed attached to the granary's south, together with a cartlodge and workshop further south, are later additions with substantial alterations and are not of special interest.