Crookhorn Farmhouse

Crookhorn Farmhouse

A farmhouse with 15th-century origins, partially rebuilt around the 16th century, with later extensions including a rear wing from the 17th or 18th century. Detached buildings stand to the south.

The building is constructed of timber-frame with brick nogging, partially raised on a stone plinth, and roofed with Horsham slate hipped roof, though the rear section has been partially recovered in clay tile. It has an L-shaped footprint.

The main structure is two storeys with exposed box-framing and irregular fenestration of various sizes in timber casement windows. The earliest part, on the north-east corner, is a jettied wing oriented east to west, with a jetty bressumer supported by brackets and two substantial first-floor curved braces. The east timber-frame includes further curved braces. To the south, at right angles to the jettied wing, is the 16th-century hall range with slightly thinner scantling timber-frame on a stone plinth. The west elevation has two doors and evidence of at least one blocked earlier window opening, along with S-anchor plates. The south return is weatherboard-clad and features a brick chimney stack in stretcher bond. Behind the jettied wing is a 17th or early 18th-century gable-end extension clad in weatherboarding, with an entrance in a later porch on its south elevation. A single-storey lean-to with brick and stone walling and a tall brick stack is attached to the later wing's west gable. A stone single-storey lean-to with a further doorway is attached to the west side of the 16th-century range.

Interior features exposed timber framing of various periods. Where the two principal historic ranges meet, the 15th-century south-end wall frame was partially replaced during the 16th-century hall range rebuild. The 15th-century jettied wing, arranged as two bays around a central corridor, has brick and stone floors with the principal winder staircase centrally located. The 16th-century hall range to the south is on a lower level, with a central bay featuring a flagstone floor and a chamfered central beam with exposed stops at one end. A large central stack contains a substantial fireplace topped by a timber bressumer, flanked by partially rebuilt sides and a modern stove. The south end bay has a large chamfered ceiling spine beam with stepped stops and chamfered joists with similar stepped stops at one end; its brick fireplace features a 19th-century mantel shelf and modern stove. Doors along the north wall of the 16th-century wing lead into a lean-to containing a second winder staircase. The rear north-west wing contains a room with a chamfered and stopped ceiling beam encased in later timbers and supporting rough-hewn joists. Within the attached lean-to at the west end is a chimney stack with a round brick oven at its base. Plank doors of various dates with metal strap hinges are set throughout within timber architraves.

At first-floor level of the 15th-century wing are the tops of jowled principal posts. Centrally is a truss with an arched collar supported by a pair of curved braces. The 16th-century wing to the south has a triple-post roof with clasped purlins and straight bracing; many principal roof timbers carry carpenters' marks, with later collars added for support. The north-west later wing had a tie-beam roof. Floorboards of various sizes and dates cover the first-floor level.