Easterfield Farmhouse

Easterfield Farmhouse

Farmhouse, dated circa 1700, with minor 19th and 20th century modernisations. A two-storey building with attics in the main block, constructed in Flemish bond brick with decorative use of burnt headers on sandstone footings at ground floor level, timber-framing clad with peg tile at first floor level, brick stacks and chimneyshafts, and a peg-tile roof with gable ends.

The house follows a single-phase T-plan, with the main block facing south-west. The principal front elevation is symmetrically fenestrated with four ground floor windows, three at first floor level, and two attic dormer windows with hipped roofs. The central doorway retains its original solid frame, bead-moulded with an overlight, original door, and flat hood on shaped brackets. Most windows are 19th and 20th century casements with glazing bars, though a couple of frames, notably the ground floor right end, may be original with flat-faced mullions. When the house was later divided into cottages, an additional front door was inserted to the right; this has since been removed and replaced by a window. The exterior features a moulded timber eaves cornice and similar fenestration to the rear.

The interior plan consists of a central entrance hall containing the staircase, flanked by two principal rooms (dining room and parlour) heated by gable-end stacks, one on either side. A two-room service block projects at right angles from the rear of the main block centre, comprising a small unheated service room and a kitchen with a gable-end stack. This rear block is lower than the main block. Integral lean-to outshots project to the rear of the main block on either side of the service room, which appears to have functioned principally as a connecting lobby between front and back rooms. Despite the later subdivision into cottages, the original layout is well preserved.

The staircase is a notably well-preserved dogleg type with square newel posts with bead-moulded corners, a moulded flat handrail, closed string, and a balustrade filled with vertical panelling. Most ceiling beams are plain chamfered; those at first floor level in the main block are plain chamfered with run-out stops. Where framing is exposed, it displays various carpenter's assembly marks. The front room fireplaces are constructed in brick with plain oak lintels, that in the right room being larger than the one to the left. The house retains a great deal of original joinery detail throughout, including two-panel doors off the ground and first floor landings and contemporary cupboard doors.

The kitchen is of particular interest. The first floor does not extend over the chimneybreast; instead, a narrow bay stands open to the roof with a framed wall constructed on top of a crossbeam at first floor level. This arrangement indicates that the kitchen originally contained a smoke bay, later replaced by the present kitchen stack, which includes a bread oven projecting to the rear. The kitchen block roof is supported on tie-beam trusses carried on jowled posts with clasped side purlins. The main block attics are plastered, and whilst little can be seen of the roof structure, it appears to be of similar construction.

The rear block kitchen fireplace was rebuilt in the 19th century; prior to this, a smoke bay rather than a stack appears to have been in place. Easterfield Farmhouse is a remarkably well-preserved small farmhouse with intact plan and structure, retaining substantial original joinery detail.