Great House Farmhouse

Great House Farmhouse is a timber-framed building of 16th and 17th-century origin, standing on an L-shaped plan. The main range runs roughly north to south in three bays over two storeys with attics, while the secondary range extends roughly east to west, also in three bays with two storeys and attics. The construction incorporates an earlier structure in the north-east bay where the two ranges meet, which disrupted the typical arrangement of a main range and cross-wing. The building is timber-framed with wattle and daub infill, though some sections are brick-nogged or have been faced or replaced in brick. Most of the structure is now clad in 20th-century render and tile-hanging. The south gable wall is built of stone rubble. Brick is used for plinths, chimney stacks, and other dressings. The roofs are covered in Horsham stone, except the kitchen which has been re-roofed in tile.

A shallow cellar, presumably added later, lies beneath the narrow north-east corner bay, raising the ground floor level of the room above higher than elsewhere in the building. The central bay of the main range has an internal transverse brick stack, expressed externally as an elaborate chimney. Another internal transverse stack stands between the central and western bays of the cross-wing. An external brick stack on an earlier base sits at the north-east angle on the north gable wall, and a small stack serves the west wall of the single-storey kitchen. In each wing, stairs behind the main stacks rise from ground floor to attic.

The east elevation is divided into three unequal bays over two storeys. The outer bays are tile-hung, while the wide central section, which includes two structural bays, is rendered. All rest on a brick plinth laid in Flemish bond using red, buff, and burnt 2-inch brick. The plinth breaks forward slightly beneath the northern bay where it forms the outer wall of the cellar. A 20th-century doorway has been inserted to the left of the central window. The rear west elevation is fully rendered and also sits on a brick plinth, with a stair window in the central bay and an entrance in the northern bay. The south gable wall is of stone rubble with brick quoins. The south-west angle has been rebuilt, and repairs mark where a 20th-century extension was removed. The prominent brick chimney stack rising above the eastern elevation has grouped, facetted brick shafts with moulded caps set on a square base.

The west and north elevations of the east-west range have exposed timber framing in square panelling with straight angle braces and rendered panels. Lower sections of the western gable wall are infilled and partly replaced in brick. The south elevation is fully rendered. This wing extends under the northern gable of the rebuilt north-east corner. The beam supporting the attic floor is exposed beneath the wall plate on the north elevation. The west gable wall is symmetrically arranged with window openings diminishing in size on each floor. The upper level of the attic floor has brackets for a canopy above a former window. A T-plan brick stack serves this section.

On the north elevation, the east-west range appears to have been curtailed and is incorporated into the taller north-facing gable. This is also timber-framed but tile-hung to the east of the stack and rendered at ground floor level. The gable has exposed arched struts and is infilled in brick. An external stack in red and burnt blue brick is built on an earlier brick base. A former entrance at the angle with the kitchen wing has been blocked.

Throughout the house, most windows are late 20th-century timber casements, many fitted into earlier openings. The exception is the first-floor oriel window on the north elevation. This window has a richly detailed ovolo-moulded five-light mullion and transom frame typical of the very late 16th and early 17th centuries, supported by plain brackets (possibly earlier) that are integral to the structure of the bay. The vertical close-studding of the frame is symmetrically arranged beneath the window. Casements and fixed lights have diamond leaded quarries. The stair window has similar glazing.

The single-storey kitchen and larder appear to have been encased in the late 19th or early 20th century, probably on the site of an earlier structure. They have brick cladding in stretcher bond below the eaves, a replaced tile roof, and an external brick stack to the east, formerly with an adjacent bread oven.

Both ranges were constructed with two storeys and fully accessible attics. To provide greater headroom, the attic floors are supported on the frame below the wall plate, visible at the head of each flight of stairs.

Where visible in the main range, the mid-rail and wall plates are chamfered. Ground floor ceiling spine and transverse beams have deep 3-inch and 2-inch stop-chamfers. The central bay has an exposed ceiling with similar chamfered joists with moulded stops.

The main range has a substantial fireplace in the main chamber or hall with a chamfered bressumer dated and inscribed "V 1575 A". Above the bressumer, the beam spanning the reduced opening is inscribed "Anno Domini 1677", possibly added at a later date.

The northern partition wall incorporates a moulded doorcase with a chamfered base enriched with facetted ogival stops. This was likely formerly external and has been reset. The door has 12 moulded panels. Other doors, of 18th-century and late 19th-century date, have six moulded panels, some raised and fielded on the inner face, and hung on HL hinges nailed in place.

The southern room was also heated and now has a late 19th or early 20th-century cast iron fireplace. The frame is covered or replaced in brick apart from the spine and transverse beams, which are also chamfered with moulded stops. Cupboards built into the chimney breast have panelled doors and H and butterfly hinges. Panelled cupboard doors beneath and opposite the stair have ornate cock's head hinges.

The dog-leg stair rises from ground floor to attic. Throughout it has square newels with facetted ogival finials and drop finials (those on the lower flight are replaced), turned balusters, and a moulded rail. The beam above the stairwell at first floor level is inscribed "L 1678 RL II".

First-floor chambers were also heated and each has a deep chamfered bressumer above a late 19th-century fireplace.

The east-west range also has a substantial chimney breast with chamfered bressumer. The flue is now closed but is said to contain a smoking loft in the chimney that was noted in the previous list entry. The curved outer wall of the smoking chamber is visible on the first floor. The previous list entry also noted a Wealden iron fire back with crests, an iron fireplace floor, and a roasting jack and spit (the latter attached to the bressumer). The spit and roasting jack remain but the fire back has been removed. There is a pair of chamfered spine beams with approximately 2-inch chamfers and moulded stops. To the rear of the chimney breast, an oak winder stair with a chamfered newel rises from ground floor to attics. At each floor the stair is enclosed behind a plank door with strap hinges. There are similar doors to ground and first-floor rooms. The rear wall of the stack and a blocked doorway appear in the internal wall of the western ground floor room. Ground-floor stone flag floors are present.

The first-floor chamber has been subdivided by more recent partitions enclosing the stack. The intact oriel window is of high quality with ovolo and hollow chamfer moulded mullions and transoms. Traces of an opposing window opening on the south-facing elevation at the head of the passage have now been replaced by a 20th-century window. The internal wall between the earlier and north-east bay is of slender scantling timber framing, suggesting it was built when the north-east bay was added or rebuilt. Wide floorboards run throughout the east-west range.

The timber frame of the ground floor of the north-east section is of heavy, late medieval type, and joists are almost square in section. The ground-floor room at the north-east angle (The Oak Room) is raised above an added stone and brick-lined cellar reached by steps from the inner passage. The ground floor room is fully panelled, including a panelled door with cock's head hinges, which leads to the rear of the 16th-century doorcase. A round-headed mid-19th-century cast iron fireplace and grate are present. The first floor above has a slender scantling timber frame.

The kitchen has a trenched purlin roof and stone flag floor. An internal water pump in the kitchen is linked to a well outside. The larder has stone shelves, a tile floor, and a window with shutters.

The main range has a substantial three-bay butt-purlin roof with short, curving wind braces. The central collar, which is also arch-braced, has been cut and supported against vertical struts to allow full access to the floor space. The southern bay within the roof space is subdivided from the central bay by a closed truss with a wattle and daub partition. The northern bay terminates in a square-panelled timber-framed wall that closes the northern extremity of this phase of the building. The north-south roof has been extended in butt-purlin construction, but at a later date, over the shallow bay at the north-east angle and envelopes the east-west roof which protrudes into it. The east-west roof is also of butt-purlin construction, with a dropped tie beam that provides full floor access, and of a type generally found in the area after 1580. The roof is set out in two full bays, a shallow stack bay divided to the west by a wattle and daub partition, and a westernmost bay that appears to have been altered. Internal trusses are numbered from west to east. The stack is of narrow approximately 1-inch to 1.5-inch brick. Original wide board floors survive in both the main range and subsidiary range.