The Old House

The Old House is a house of probably 16th-century origin with earlier roots, extended in the late 18th or early 19th century. It stands at Werrington, near Yeolmbridge.

The building is constructed of rendered and painted stone rubble with a rag slate roof featuring hipped ends. Brick chimney shafts rise axially, laterally and at the ends.

The house comprises several distinct phases. The original plan is uncertain, but the building now appears to consist of a through passage with a two-storey porch to the rear, a lower room to the left, a truncated 16th or 17th-century wing to the front of the lower end, and a late 18th or early 19th-century rebuilding on the higher right end. The through passage contains a crosswall with a 17th-century doorframe on the lower side and mortices in the head beam on the higher side indicating a removed screen. The two-storey porch on the north may be a 17th-century addition. The lower room is heated by an end stack and probably once had a newel stair rising at the side, now removed. The 16th or 17th-century wing to the south of this room has been truncated in length. The roof structure appears largely 17th-century, although a particularly sooty threaded purlin and blade of a truss roughly above the passage suggest possible reuse or resetting. As these timbers have been partly reset, it remains uncertain whether they indicate an earlier open hall with hearth. In the late 18th or early 19th century, the higher end to the right of the passage was either heavily remodelled or rebuilt and extended, and the house was re-orientated to face south. This later range has a central entrance with a wide hall and stair to the rear, flanked by a principal room to the right (originally heated by an end stack) and a slightly smaller room to the left (heated by a fireplace on the rear wall). A kitchen lies to the rear right, and a passage to the rear of the left-hand room connects the stair and entrance hall of the 18th-century range with the passage of the earlier range. The 18th-century range was built to accommodate the principal rooms, while the earlier range was retained as a service wing.

The exterior shows two storeys. The south front combines the 18th or early 19th-century range on the right with the earlier range on the left, the truncated wing of which projects to the front left. The 18th-century range has a symmetrical five-window front with complete original hornless twelve-pane sashes featuring crown glass and interior shutters. A 19th-century timber porch with a flat roof and glazed door occupies the entrance. The earlier range to the left displays a two-light casement in the blocked rear door opening to the through passage on the right, adjoining the 18th-century range with a further two-light casement to the left, also in a blocked door opening. Nineteenth-century sashes appear on the first floor. The truncated wing to the left has a tripartite sash with a two-light casement above. The rear elevation shows a two-storey porch to the earlier range with a 20th-century door on the ground floor, and features 19th-century horizontal sliding sashes and 19th-century sashes.

Interior details of the earlier range include a front door to the passage within the porch, which has a four-centred granite arch with ovolo moulding and eroded stops. A double-skin lapped and studded 16th or 17th-century door with a hole for a draw bar precedes this. Mortice holes in the head beam above the screen (now re-coved) on the higher side of the passage indicate its former presence. A 17th-century ovolo-moulded timber doorframe with vase-stops on the lower side of the passage accompanies a 17th-century plank and studded door. The heavy floor joists above the passage are chamfered with buried stops. The lower room has a plastered ceiling with a heavy roughly chamfered central cross beam and cross beams near the fireplace and passage crosswall. A projection probably originally accommodated a newel stair rising at the side of the end stack. The fireplace lintel has been replaced. The roof structure is 17th-century, featuring heavy principals halved, lap-jointed and pegged, with purlins deeply trenched and threaded. The sooty purlin and blade of the principal roughly above the passage are possibly reused or reset. The roof was not fully accessible at the time of survey in 1987.

The late 18th or early 19th-century range is largely complete, with a wide hall containing a stair to the rear with stick balusters, a ramped and wreathed mahogany rail and open string. The right-hand room has a plaster cornice with floral trail and egg-and-dart motif. The left-hand room contains a 19th-century chimney-piece. Doors throughout this range are 18th or early 19th-century, six-panel with raised and fielded panels.