Knell Farmhouse

Knell Farmhouse is a farmhouse with origins dating to the early to mid 17th century, significantly extended and altered around the 1880s. The original section is built with framed timber construction, now clad in weatherboarding. A brick addition was made to the ground floor circa 1860, with the first floor tile-hung, incorporating bands of scalloped tiles; the roofs are covered in peg tiles, and there are brick stacks.

The house faces east. The rear west block is a 3-room lobby entrance plan, typical of the 17th century, with the two north rooms (parlour and hall) originally heated by a back-to-back fireplace in an axial stack. A staircase rises from the parlour against the rear wall. The right-hand (south) room was initially unheated and divided into two, probably serving as a buttery and pantry. Around 1860, a new front block was added with principal rooms on either side of a central entrance and staircase. The original house was then reused as a service wing. The rear block’s roof was replaced in the late 20th century following a fire.

The symmetrical three-bay front of the 1860s block features gables to the left and right, decorated with bargeboards, dentil verges, a frieze, finials, and pendants. A gabled open porch, supported by timber posts, is centrally located, with a dentil cornice and finial and pendant to its gable verge. The front door is a 19th-century design, with glazed upper panels. Canted bay windows flank the porch, with hipped roofs and plate glass, horned sash windows; these have four panes in the centre and two panes in the outer lights. Above the porch is a four-pane sash window, and to the left and right are tripartite sashes, again with four panes in the centre and two panes in the outer lights. The rear block has a half-hipped roof, and its axial stack features staggered triple shafts with a corbelled brick cornice.

The interior of the 1860s block retains original joinery and a staircase with turned balusters. The rear block retains 17th-century carpentry, including axial beams and exposed joists. An open fireplace with a chamfered lintel and brick jambs is in the north room. Exposed ceiling beams are present on the first-floor rooms, and a number of 17th-century doors survive. The roof of the rear block is entirely of late 20th-century construction. The farmhouse represents two distinct phases of building and the 19th-century addition is largely complete.