Stone Cross

Stone Cross is a former farmhouse of considerable architectural interest, probably dating from the late 15th century with late 16th and early 17th century improvements, modernised and enlarged around 1900. It is timber-framed with the ground floor underbuilt in brick and coursed sandstone, apparently constructed in successive phases. Most of the brickwork is Flemish bond red brick with burnt headers, though some English bond brickwork (probably 17th century) and various butt joints and blockings appear on the rear wall. The timber-framing above the first floor is hung with peg-tiles, and the building is topped with a peg-tile roof. There are brick chimneys, including an old hall chimneyshaft built of old brick and a circa 1900 parlour chimneyshaft with Tudor-style star-shaped shafts.

The house faces east-south-east, overlooking a steep valley. Its plan comprises a main block with a two-room layout—kitchen to the left (south) and former hall to the right—both with end stacks. Two crosswings project forward from each end, with the left (south) wing serving as a service wing and the right as a parlour crosswing. A rear parlour shares the hall stack, while the front room has an outer lateral stack. The front entrance occupies a lobby on the side of the stack between the former hall and rear parlour, accessed via a two-storey stair turret.

The main block represents the historic core: a small late medieval open hall house of two bays. Originally, the one-bay hall was open to the roof and heated by an open hearth fire. The adjacent bay (now the kitchen) was floored from the beginning and contained the through passage with narrow unheated services to the left (south) and a bed chamber above. The hall was floored over in the late 16th or early 17th century, and a hall fireplace was inserted at the same time. The parlour crosswing was added in the early 17th century as a single room, at which point the passage was abandoned in favour of the lobby entrance with its stair turret. The parlour crosswing was extended forward around 1900, when the service crosswing and kitchen stack were also added. The house has two storeys with disused attics in the roof space.

The exterior largely reflects the circa 1900 refurbishment, executed in a sympathetic Arts and Crafts vernacular style. The front elevation is irregular, with three bays (1:3:1 proportions) of circa 1900 casements containing rectangular panes of leaded glass. The main block elevation is broken by an irregular two-storey bay window to the former hall, the 17th-century stair turret to the right, and a large half dormer with hipped roof to the left. Both crosswings project forward with end jetties and gable ends. The main entrance on the north side of the parlour crosswing features a gabled porch in Tudor and Jacobean style, with a timber pointed-head outer arch with moulded surround on the west side. The porch contains part-glazed panelled double doors and a continuous range of windows around the remainder, featuring a grille of turned bobbin mullions glazed with diamond panes of leaded glass. The main roof rises to a higher level over the medieval house.

Internally, the structure of the late medieval hall house appears well-preserved. The partition between hall and passage has been removed, but a narrow bay at the south end of the present hall is believed to mark the original passage's site. Above are a series of axial joists of large scantling. The present partition between hall and kitchen may be the lower passage screen, though it is plastered over, as is the kitchen ceiling.

The roof over this section spans two bays separated by a closed truss, carried on plain tie-beam trusses with crown posts having curving down braces and A-frame common rafters of large scantling. Although collar joints could not be examined during the survey, the owner reports they were lap-jointed. The hall bay, including some original plaster, is smoke-blackened from the original open hearth fire. The medieval roof was gable-ended to the north (evidenced by the absence of a slot in the crown post for an up brace), whilst the other end was half-hipped.

The hall was floored over with a series of axial joists, all chamfered with step stops. A large brick fireplace here has a slightly mutilated chamfered Tudor arch to its oak lintel. The parlour has plain joists and a fireplace that, if not completely rebuilt around 1900, was heavily mended; it is constructed of sandstone ashlar with a chamfered and scroll-stopped oak lintel. A very similar fireplace of circa 1900 appears in the front room of the parlour crosswing. A two-bay early 17th-century roof at the rear of the parlour crosswing comprises tie-beam trusses with clasped side purlins with crown and queen struts.

Stone Cross represents an interesting survival of a small two-bay medieval hall house. Its proximity to Stone Cross Farmhouse, a higher-class medieval hall house nearby, may be significant to understanding its development and context.