New Close Farmhouse

New Close Farmhouse, Keymer

This farmhouse, later converted into a country hotel and now returned to domestic use, is a complex structure built in phases from the early 17th century onwards.

The building's earliest element is a two-bay early 17th-century crosswing forming the northernmost part, originally attached to a main range that has since been demolished. To the southwest, a late 17th-century two-bay main range was constructed. In the early 18th century, the eastern outshut was built over and the entire building was reconfigured as a central entrance end chimneystack house. The building was refronted in the early 19th century, extended by approximately half its length to the south, and refenestrated in the late 19th century.

The northern part is timber-framed but has been refronted in brick, with mathematical tiles in the end bay. The southern part is of brick, though the east front is partially shingled. The roof is mainly tiled, except for the southwesternmost slope which is covered with Horsham stone slabs. There are five tall brick chimneystacks, two of which are ribbed.

The building is two storeys with attics and has irregular fenestration. The west front has six windows, a mix of sashes and casements with leaded lights, many featuring yellow stained glass.

The west elevation is divided into two distinct parts. The northern section, incorporating the earliest building fabric, has an early 19th-century front of brick and mathematical tiles with three windows. Brick pilasters flank the central window. The northernmost bay features a late 19th-century full-height tall French window with side-lights and a four-light fanlight, all with decorative bevelled-edge leaded lights. The remaining first-floor windows are a single and a triple mid-19th-century sash with central glazing bars. The ground floor has a splayed bay with similar windows. A hipped porch with Horsham stone slabs is supported on bracketed wooden piers. The plinth is prominent. The north elevation is of brick and retains a section of 18th-century English bond brickwork with vitrified headers and a deep plinth. The southern part of the west elevation is of late 19th-century brickwork in stretcher bond with Horsham stone slabs to the front of the roof. The first floor has three oriel windows with leaded lights. The ground floor is set back behind a wooden arched verandah with a porch to the left and a sideways-facing doorcase.

The south elevation has two gables with scalloped wooden bargeboards. The first floor has five casements with leaded lights. French windows with leaded lights are set back under a wooden arched verandah. A southeast octagonal corner turret rises from this elevation, its first floor pebbledashed with a lead roof and leaded light windows.

The east elevation is complex. The northern part has an 18th-century half-hipped gable with a dogtooth cornice. A 19th-century attic window with leaded lights and a late 19th-century leaded light window are positioned below. Two adjoining bays to the south have an 18th-century hipped roof, with brick to the ground floor and tile-hanging to the first floor. After 1896, a two-storey projection was added to this section, featuring three gables with carved bargeboards and terracotta finials. The first floor is hung with very small shingles and has two triple mullioned and transomed casements with leaded lights. The ground floor has a wooden triple arched verandah with two mullioned windows with leaded lights and a wide cambered doorcase on the right side, containing an early 19th-century plank door with beading. The southern portion of the east front comprises two further bays with similar gables, shingled first floor, and mullioned and transomed windows with an arched verandah to the ground floor. A projecting brick wing to which the octagonal turret is attached adjoins this section. Outbuildings attached to the southeast date from after 1938.

Interior

The early 17th-century crosswing retains its southern wall at first-floor level, which is of small-panel construction with a heavy midrail. The roof is of clasped purlin type. The late 17th-century two-bay main range retains an east-west internal wall on both floors, of small-panel framing with midrails (a mix of continuous and interrupted types) and part of the front wall. The southern ground-floor room has two crossbeams that are roughly chamfered with cyma stops and joists that were originally underplastered. A similar central girder rises to the first floor. The roof is of heavy butt purlin construction, framed in four bays with many reused timbers, including some from a soot-blackened clasped side-purlin roof.

Immediately north of the east-west partition wall is a circa 1730 balustraded staircase with handrail and a column newel post with a small section sawn off at the top. Beneath this, a flight of brick steps descends to an early 18th-century stone cellar with a pointed arched alcove and several rectangular alcoves.

The late 17th-century outshut was rebuilt in the early 18th century. The ground-floor kitchen has axial beams with one-inch chamfers and a brick cambered fireplace. The southern wall of the original part features an early 19th-century marble fireplace with paterae, reeded pilasters, and a cast iron firegrate. A late 19th-century north function room extends through both ground and first floors with strapwork dado panelling. A southern ground-floor room has a heavy coffered ribbed ceiling and a large inglenook fireplace.

History

The property is shown as New Close on Budgen's Map of 1724. By circa 1909, it was known as Orchard Farm. In the early 20th century, it served for a period as a country hotel.