Oakhurst Farmhouse

Oakhurst Farmhouse

Former farmhouse, now house, located in Loxwood. The building comprises a west wing dating to the mid-18th century and an east wing dating to the early to mid-19th century, which probably replaced an earlier structure. The building has undergone 19th and 20th-century refenestration. A 20th-century conservatory is attached to the south side and is not of special interest.

The west wing is constructed of red brick in Flemish bond with a deep projecting brick plinth in English bond, a gabled tiled roof, and end brick chimneystacks. Each chimney has two flues linked by a round-headed brick arch, with the northern one projecting slightly. The east wing is of red brick on the ground floor in English garden wall bond with tile-hanging above. The roof is tiled, gabled to the west and hipped to the east with a catslide outshot on the east side. No chimneystacks survive on this range.

The plan is T-shaped, with the west wing comprising two storeys and three bays, plus an attic and cellars, containing a central staircase with two rooms on each floor. The lower two-storey east wing has three bays and a separate staircase.

The principal exterior features of the west wing are on the west side. Both ground and first floor windows have two end cambered openings with late-19th-century wooden casement windows. The central window at mezzanine level is similar but features a round-headed rubbed brick relieving arch above and a brick apron below, lighting the central staircase. The basement has window openings and a doorcase. The attic has two modern rooflights, one replacing a dormer visible in a circa 1905 photograph. The north and south fronts each have one window on each floor to the east of the chimneystacks in cambered heads. The north windows are 19th-century wooden casements; the south windows are 20th-century sixteen-pane sash windows with top opening lights. The east side has no windows, with only the northern part visible, the southern part concealed by the lower eastern wing.

The eastern wing displays irregular fenestration with two 19th-century casements to the upper floor of the north side and a 19th-century cambered casement to the ground floor, plus a 20th-century window to the ground floor. The south side has a recessed centre with three irregularly placed 20th-century sash or casement windows, a large 20th-century four-light casement to the ground floor east side, and a simple doorcase currently obscured by the 20th-century conservatory.

Internally, the west wing contains two blank round-headed arched recesses on the east wall of the ground floor and a round-headed arch with keystone and pilasters with impost blocks providing access from the east wing. The centre of the west wing houses a fine mid-18th-century dogleg staircase, extending between the cellars and first floor, featuring chamfered square newel posts, slender turned balusters, and panelled dados. Mid-18th-century architraves with six-panelled doors on the ground floor lead to two rooms. The northern room retains mid-18th-century panelling on all four sides with moulded cornices and dado rails. The eastern wall contains a round-headed alcove with later shelving; both the north and west sides have panelled window seats and panelled window shutters, and the north side has a fireplace with marble surround with two panels to the overmantel and a built-in cupboard, though the fireplace itself is late-19th-century. The south room is currently used as a kitchen.

The first floor has a landing with panelled dado and two bedrooms. The south bedroom has a moulded cornice and a late-19th-century wooden fireplace with brackets and tiled surround. In the south-west corner is a cupboard with two-panelled door and panels above. Panelling may survive beneath the current wallcovering. The north first floor room also has a moulded cornice, a mid-19th-century wooden fireplace with cast iron firegrate, and a panelled window seat with panel above the window. Original panelling may survive beneath current wall covering. The staircase between first floor and attics is an early-19th-century half-winder staircase with stick balusters and columned newel posts. The roof has staggered purlins cut away to insert modern rooflights and some original wide floorboards. The cellar has brick arches supporting the end chimneystacks and two axial beams.

The east wing contains a large 19th-century well staircase with square newel posts and stick balusters, some four-panelled doors, and a wooden bressumer over a brick fireplace in the centre of the south side, either reused or brought in from elsewhere.

Historically, the building was part of the Loxwood Hall estate and served as a main steading. It was owned by the King family from circa 1600 to 1900. In the 20th century it was in the ownership of one family for over eighty-five years. The farmhouse appears on the First Edition Ordnance Survey map of 1875, where the west wing has its current profile, but the eastern wing is longer than it appears on either the 1912 map or currently. The 1912 map shows a projection on the eastern end of the south side of the east range which may be a porch.

The farmhouse is of special architectural interest as a dwelling with a grand mid-18th-century west parlour wing containing good quality contemporary joinery, including the central staircase, doors, and panelling. The early to mid-19th-century wing to the east is also of interest, and the ensemble is characterful, grouping well with the listed 18th-century barn.