Dairy Farm House

Dairy Farm House

This is a farm house, now a private residence, located on Lower Mousehill Lane in Witley. The building comprises an original wing aligned north-west to south-east, dating from the late 16th century, with a late 17th-century north-east staircase addition. The ground floor was partly refronted in the 18th century and underwent restoration in the 1920s. An early 20th-century L-wing of lesser architectural interest was added to the north-east.

The structure is timber framed with plastered or red brick infill. The ground floor of the south-west front is faced in local stone rubble with galleting, and tile-hung above. The south-east end has red brick in stretcher bond on the ground floor with tile-hanging above. The roof is tiled, hipped to the north-west and half-hipped to the south-east, with a moulded brick central ridge chimneystack.

The building follows a three-bay lobby-entrance plan, modified by the external staircase addition and early 20th-century L-wing. The south-west elevation was originally the entrance front, opposite the chimneystack, but this main entrance was replaced by a window in the early 20th century. The first floor has a restored small casement window and three early 20th-century wooden casement windows with leaded lights, one of which sits in a projecting oriel supported on wooden brackets with a gabled roof. The ground floor has three deep early 20th-century casements with leaded lights. The north-west side displays exposed framing with a midrail and two diagonal tension braces, with brick infill except at the top, which is plastered. Each floor has a four-light early 20th-century casement window. The north-east elevation shows exposed timber framing with plastered infill, diagonal tension braces, and erection slots, with two restored small diamond-mullioned windows on each floor. At the southern end is the penticed projecting staircase addition, also timber framed with plastered infill and one visible diagonal brace. It features a restored diamond-mullioned window and a plank door with pintle hinges on its north-west return. The south-east end is brick-faced on the ground floor with tile-hanging above, each floor having an early 20th-century wooden casement window. A large early 20th-century brick porch with a hipped tiled roof and ribbed plank door with pintle hinges stands here. The early 20th-century north-east wing is brick on the ground floor, tile-hung above, with a tiled roof and wooden casement windows with leaded lights.

Interior access to the original part is now through the 20th-century porch on the south-east side. The south-east ground floor room retains exposed framing on three sides, with the ground plate now above the current floor level, and a spine beam with square floor joists. The north-western wall has a fine four-centred arched brick fireplace retaining a bread oven. An early 20th-century ledged oak door adjoins this and leads directly to the staircase.

The lobby beside the fireplace opens into the north-western room, originally two rooms divided by a central partition which has been removed. The former central bay has a similar arched brick fireplace without traces of a bread oven, timber-framed side walls, and a chamfered spine beam with chamfered floor joists. Early 20th-century chamfered posts stand on the line of the removed partition. The former end bay has exposed wall framing and a chamfered spine beam but with square floor joists. The staircase is a half-winder with an early 20th-century cupboard near its base.

On the first floor, an internal diamond-mullioned window opens to the original exterior wall. A corridor runs at the southern end, and the top of the brick chimneystack is visible with a sizeable gap between it and the nearest truss. A tie beam in front of the south-eastern bedroom entrance has been shaped to provide more headroom. The door to this bedroom is an early 20th-century ledged oak door. The room has exposed wall framing and a roof truss with angled queen struts. The internal partition has a midrail and two slightly curved tension braces, with a centre post bearing rush light marks. The central first-floor room contains two queen-post trusses (one with an undulating shaped tie beam), clasped purlins, and visible wall framing. On the south-eastern wall is a smaller four-centred arched brick fireplace, with a cupboard door to a recess around the chimneystack featuring an early 20th-century oak door. The north-western first-floor room has exposed timber framing with a slightly curved tension brace visible, and the north-western wall has early 20th-century double cupboards. The northern part of the first floor retains some original floorboards.

Historically, the original north-west to south-east aligned wing was built in the late 16th century as a timber-framed three-bay lobby-entrance farm house. In the later 17th century, an external staircase was added on the north-east side. The 1871 Ordnance Survey map shows the original part of the building unnamed, with a footpath leading to the front entrance about two-thirds down the south-west elevation opposite the chimneystack. A small building appears to the north-east, seemingly detached, and a well is marked to the south-east. The map also shows an outbuilding to the south-east and a range of farm buildings some distance to the north. No changes were recorded by the 1897 edition. By the 1916 edition, the house was labelled Dairy House Cottage, the footpath no longer appeared, and the small north-east outbuilding had been demolished, suggesting the transition from farm house to farm cottage.

Early 20th-century photographs, probably taken not long after the First World War, show the south-west side with the main entrance opposite the chimneystack and two small casement windows on each floor. The north-west side photograph shows one small window opening on the first floor only, and the north-east side has a stone pentice at this date. The building is believed to have been refurbished in the 1920s, including the addition of further windows, enlargement of ground-floor windows, lowering of the original ground floor to gain height, and replacement of some floor joists. An L-wing was added to the north-east in the early 20th century in matching materials. By this time, the building had ceased to be a farm house and nearby farm buildings had passed into separate ownership.