Home Farm

Home Farm

This is a two-storey, three-bay farmhouse built in two phases. The front elevation of the central and left-hand bays is constructed of coursed ironstone, with courses diminishing in size towards the upper floor. The left-hand, easternmost bay is also in coursed ironstone, laid in alternating narrow and deeper courses with a slight blue colouring to the stone. The rear and gable walls are of ironstone rubble, with the gable walls extended and raised in ironstone rubble and the rear wall raised in later 20th-century brick. The building is roofed in tile with brick stacks.

The plan consists of three cells arranged in two phases: the central and right-hand cells are each a single bay, while the left-hand cell to the east comprises two bays and includes a through passage to the right. The central bay contains a large internal stack backing onto the passage. Entrances have been created on both floors in the former eastern gable wall adjacent to the stack. Winder stairs rise to the rear of the main stack, over the inserted gable wall entrance, and appear to have been altered to serve the added western bay. The right-hand cell is divided asymmetrically lengthwise, with the north-facing room containing an internal gable-end stack. The left-hand cell also has a large internal gable-end stack flanked by cupboards.

The exterior features an entrance to the passage under an added 20th-century porch between the first and central bays. Windows are set in slightly enlarged plain openings with timber lintels and have three-light metal-framed casements, mostly 20th-century Critall windows, except for the central ground floor window which is a late 19th or early 20th-century metal-framed casement with contemporary fittings. Stone steps rise to an unusually wide door of three-over-three moulded panels beneath a timber lintel, built to fit the passage, with disturbance to the stone fabric to the right of the door. The rear wall features a small stair window and 20th-century timber and metal-framed casements with a 20th-century door beneath timber lintels. The east and west gable walls are raised and the roof pitch has been reduced. The brick stacks are rebuilt, the main stack being taller with a rendered base.

Internally, a masonry cross-wall separates the central and right-hand bays, with a substantial masonry wall, originally a gable wall and now internal, to the right of the passage. Windows throughout are set in deep embrasures with low cills. The central cell contains a large, four-centre arched moulded stone chimneypiece set to a stone stack. To the rear stands a winder stair; at landing level the stairs are offset to provide access to the main house and left-hand bay. The lower section of a chamfered newel post has two mortise holes for former tenons. Stone slab flooring is exposed in the hearth and below the stair. On the ground floor are a pair of two-panel doors, raised and fielded on one side, with the rear pantry door having pronounced raised and fielded panels and hung on nailed HL hinges. Other doors are of four and six panels. A substantial spine beam on the ground floor has approximately a 2-inch chamfer; a slender chamfered spine beam on the first floor sits at the same level as the side purlins. Wide floor boards are exposed in the right-hand upper room.

The left-hand cell spans two bays, divided by a masonry wall to form the passage, which rises considerably from the road side to the back of the house. A timber cill is present in the left-hand room where the floor level is lower, while the floor level within the central bay is higher than the passage. A substantial chamfered spine beam has a 2-inch chamfer. Joists have a narrow chamfer and long moulded stops. A large inglenook fireplace with timber bressumer is flanked by cupboards, all refurbished in mid- to later 20th century. The first floor of this bay is level with the head of the stairs. A single tier of side purlins and boxed collar and braces are present. The gable-wall cupboard has a plank door on H hinges and a late 18th or early 19th-century latch.

Within the roof space are two pairs of steeply-pitched principal rafters between the central and right-hand bays, forming the central truss of the left-hand cell; the added collar extends to the outer roofline. The roof has otherwise been replaced and repaired in machine-sawn timber. A later 20th-century glazed conservatory is attached to the rear of the house but is not of special interest.