Charmydown Farmhouse and gardener's cottage

Charmydown Farmhouse is a house originally built as a 17th-century farmhouse, rebuilt in the 18th and early 19th centuries, with 20th-century and later extensions and alterations. A detached gardener's cottage of 19th-century date or earlier stands nearby.

Materials and Structure

The farmhouse is constructed of coursed Bathstone with freestone quoins, ashlar window surrounds, banding, coped raised verges, and moulded eaves cornices. The roof structures are of oak and covered in Welsh slate. Interior joinery is a mix of 19th-century and late 20th-century replacements. The windows are timber sashes and casements, all of late 20th-century date. Basement and kitchen floors are laid with flagstones, while other rooms have pine floorboards.

Plan and Layout

The building occupies a steeply sloped site with an evolved plan. The main range stands at the southern, lower end of the site, oriented north-west to south-east, with two storeys, an attic, and a basement. Later east and west wings of slightly lower height were added as part of a reorientation, creating a principal transverse range facing south-east towards the garden. A two-storey rear service wing forms a T-plan following the continuation of the earlier north-west/south-east line at the higher end of the site. At the junction between the main range and service wing on the west side is a stair turret. Two modest single-storey additions stand to the rear elevations. Internally, the principal range contains a rear axial passage with a winder stair at the north end, central stairs rising to the service wing (kitchen), and an inserted staircase descending to basement or lower ground floor rooms facing the garden terrace.

Principal Elevation

The garden-facing principal elevation is composed of 2:2:2 bays, with the centre slightly advanced under a gabled attic. A continuous moulded string runs at floor level, with a plat band to the first floor and an attic string course at flanking eaves level. The two central casements to the lower ground floor have delicate scored mouldings, stone mullions, and slots for earlier panes. The six-pane casements to the left and right bays have rebated surrounds with fixings for shutters. To the right of centre is a Bathstone door with a chamfered and eared surround. To the left of centre, one window is sealed behind a 20th-century staircase to a garden door; this was formerly a six-over sash matching those across the upper ground floor. The first floor has six-pane windows, and the attic a six-over-nine sash. Metal bars protect the lower ground floor casements.

Side Elevations

The coped gables of the return flanks have ashlar end stacks with offsets. The left (west) return is slate hung to the first floor and has a casement to the right. The right (east) return features stone lancet openings on ground and first floor levels on the left-hand side, each containing a 12-pane sash with interlaced Y-tracery. Below is a coal opening, and above at attic level is a small timber casement. To the right at ground floor is a stone mullion casement and a timber attic casement.

Rear Elevation and Service Wing

The rear shows a taller central gabled bay with a ridge stack adjoining the lower in-line service wing. To its left, a narrower gabled stair turret has timber casements to three floors on its east flank. To the far left, at the foot of a set of steps, a door with a string course above has a six-over-six sash to the first floor. To the right is a single-storey outshot with a chamfered stone door. The west flank of the taller central bay has inserted timber casements to the upper floors. The west elevation of the service range displays varied fenestration of timber casements and sashes, with a stone casement featuring a mullion and hoodmould at ground floor left. The gabled end has raised coped verges and an ashlar stack. A modern stone shed stands against the end wall. The east elevation is enclosed within a 20th and 21st-century ground floor outshot with two casements above. At ground floor left is the principal entrance with a stop-chamfered timber doorcase, possibly 17th-century and reset, and modern casements to the right under timber lintels.

Interior

The main entrance opens directly into the kitchen, which features a chamfered oak crossbeam, a second beam of concrete that is boxed in, and a stone fireplace at the north end. The fireplace stands in a rubblestone chimneybreast with a wide chamfered stone lintel, and to the left is a bread oven under a brick arch. The room above, accessed via the main staircase, has an inserted hearth within the chimneybreast featuring a reused oak bressumer. This room opens to the oak roof trusses, which display paired purlins and lap-jointed collars, with some later strengthening.

A doorway from the kitchen, with a chamfer-stopped doorcase of cambered head and plank door probably dating to the 17th century, leads down to the rear corridor of the main range. The corridor contains a large slate slab fixed to the kitchen wall and standing on a stone cill. Chamfered doorcases open to the principal rooms; a door gives access to a flight of stone steps to the basement, and a stone staircase rises to the first floor. The central room overlooking the garden displays a four-compartment ceiling with moulded plaster beam casings including egg-and-dart designs, a moulded cornice, stone fireplace, and panelling. The dining room in the east wing has an unchamfered cross beam (matching those in other rooms) and a tall ashlar fireplace within a projecting stone chimneybreast. The opposite wall is the uncovered former external wall of the original house, with '1757' scored upside down in one of the blocks, and to the left is an inserted cupboard with long iron hinges. Most first floor and attic rooms contain stone fireplaces with 18th or 19th-century grates. Above the first floor, the staircase is of timber construction. The attic room to the central bay has a tall 17th-century oak roof with two collars and two purlins; some principals retain remnants of bark. The east attic has a late 18th or early 19th-century roof with a lap-jointed collar. The west wing has no attic, and its roof is of 20th-century construction. The basements contain substantial oak crossbeams, and in the corner of the central room stands a large copper with stone walls and a grate. To its left is a stone kitchen fireplace.

Gardener's Cottage

The 18th or 19th-century gardener's cottage is built of rubble stone with a stone tile roof and few modest openings. A boarded loft partition divides the upper level at the north end, and a machine-sawn roof structure spans the building. The partly rebuilt east wall has an attached stone building, a former privy, at its north end. The roadside elevation is fitted with double-leaf timber garage doors.