Newlands Farmhouse and attached outbuilding

Newlands Farmhouse and Attached Outbuilding

A former farmhouse of mid to late 17th-century origins, substantially re-fronted and internally reordered in the 18th century, extended around the 19th century, with a late 19th-century linking range and an attached pre-1839 outbuilding. The building has a historic timber-frame core with later brick elevations and additions, clay tile roofs with brick stacks, and uPVC replacement windows throughout.

The farmhouse is a two-storey building with cellar and attic, aligned east to west, with a double-pile plan and symmetrical internal layout comprising rooms either side of a central passageway. The south-facing front elevation is constructed in Hampshire red brick laid in Flemish bond with a blue-brick mid-band and red-brick dentil eaves course. A 19th-century pitched-roof porch marks the centre, containing the entrance door. The symmetrical fenestration comprises three uPVC eight-over-eight horned-sash windows set in existing openings with rendered sills; ground-floor windows have flat-segmental heads with brick voussoirs. Cellar windows are positioned at the south-east corner. Pairs of gables feature to the side elevations. The east elevation and front-west gable are clad in cementitious render; the rear-west gable, which breaks forward of the front gable, is brick. A substantial rendered chimney breast with brick stack rises on the front-west gable end, with a smaller rendered lateral stack to the front-east gable. Small attic uPVC casement windows sit within each gable. A brick stack stands over the rear-west gable, and curved segmental-headed uPVC casement windows occur in the rear-east gable. The rear brick elevation is laid in Sussex bond with a dentil eaves course. The eastern half of this elevation sits slightly back with a change in roof pitch. The uPVC casements sit within curved segmental-headed openings.

A late 19th-century brick infill structure is attached to the rear of the house with doors to east and west. At right angles stands a single-storey linear brick range. Its pre-1839 west end is laid in Sussex bond with a half-hipped roof to the west and gable end to the east, with no evidence of an external chimney stack. The south elevation features a large curved segmental-headed opening, now infilled with a uPVC casement window and timber door, with an adjacent brick pilaster; the block opening indicates original use as a coach house. A lean-to adjoins the north side. A late 19th-century stable range is attached to the east of the outbuilding's gable end but is not included in this listing.

Interior

The double-pile house maintains a largely symmetrical plan with rooms either side of a central passageway. Timber floorboards of various dates run throughout the front pile and first floor of the rear pile; some upper-level boards are wide planks, possibly elm. Various two, four, and six-panel doors occur throughout, some with L-shaped hinges.

Ground-floor rooms in the front pile are at slightly different levels rising from west to east. The front-west room includes a chamfered ceiling beam with lamb's-tongue stops at either end, placed off-centre and likely dating to the original 17th-century layout. Its large west-end fireplace has been infilled and contains a mid-20th-century fire surround. The front-east room has a fireplace with 19th-century cast-iron grate and timber surround. The central hall contains an enclosed stair. Beneath the staircase, brick steps with timber treads descend to the cellar; at ground-floor level, the cellar steps are flanked by box framing to the east and stud-wall framing to the west, both with brick infill. The brick cellar ceiling is supported by timber posts, with brick floor, blocked coal shoot, and large brick alcove to the north. The ground-floor central passageway continues into the rear pile. The rear-east room has a chamfered central ceiling beam with lamb's-tongue stop at one end, possibly reused; it has a brick floor beneath later covering and modern inbuilt kitchen cupboards. The rear-west room has a boxed-in central ceiling beam, substantial chimney breast infilled with a mid-20th-century fire surround, 19th-century inbuilt cupboards, and an enclosed winder staircase in one corner with plank doors.

At first-floor level, evidence of timber-framing with brick infill appears in the wall between front and rear piles: to the east of the hallway, box-framing with straight bracing and brick infill; to the west, a top wall plate is evident. Box-framing with brick infill also occurs in the wall to the right of the staircase. Both front rooms contain 19th-century cast-iron grates with timber surrounds, and an inbuilt cupboard stands beside the substantial chimney breast in the front-west room. The rear east and west rooms are separated by a blocked door. The rear-west room, also reached via the winder stair, has a blocked fireplace with tile hearth and has been subdivided into a bathroom and bedroom.

The attic level over the front pile comprises two rooms with plank doors either side of the staircase. The three-bay roof structure has two principal trusses with tie beams. The upper part of the trusses is sealed; the roof may be collar-beam construction. Pegged, staggered butt purlins are present. Timber-framing appears evident in the east-gable end.

The linking range attached to the north side of the farmhouse has a catslide roof supported by a central truss. A door in the former external west-end wall leads into the pre-1839 outbuilding. This has a rough-hewn, raked-strut, queen-post roof retaining evidence of the original east-end hipped-roof structure beneath the later pitched roof; the trusses are blackened by smoke. Against the north wall stands a large fireplace with cast-iron grate, adjacent to a brick bread oven with cast-iron doors—both appear to be later insertions indicating the building was converted to use as a bakehouse. Against the south wall, beside the infilled arch opening, a sink on a brick plinth has been added.