Hennett

Hennett is a farmhouse, probably built in the late 16th century, possibly for the Rawle family. It is constructed of local stone rubble with granite quoins and covered by a slate roof with gable ends.

The building appears to be only a partial survival of what was originally a larger 'T' or 'H' shaped house. The lower end has been demolished and replaced with a dairy and garage in a lean-to outshot. The front and rear walls of the through passage have been rebuilt, though the granite entrance arches have been reused and the cross walls on either side of the passage are probably original.

The layout comprises a hall on the right side of a through passage, heated by a lower lateral stone rubble stack, and a cross wing at the higher side containing three rooms: a front parlour, a chamber above (probably of some importance), and a room to the rear heated by a gable end stack. A further room was added to the higher right side of the cross wing in the late 19th century. The cross wing was partly rebuilt after a fire in the late 19th century, and the stair hall was remodelled at the same period. The rear gable end wall has been rebuilt above first floor level, probably in the late 19th century.

The building is two storeys with an asymmetrical front elevation. The entrance to the hall features a probably reset 4-centred granite arch with roll mould, inner cavetto mould and run-out stops, and a 20th-century door. To the right is a 19th-century two-light casement on ground and first floor, and to the left a lean-to outshot with 20th-century garage doors. The cross wing to the right has two circa late 16th-century four-light granite mullion windows elaborately moulded with hollow chamfers and ovolo-moulded jambs, lintels and hollow-chamfered mullions. A circa 18th-century door was inserted between these two windows providing a separate entrance to the parlour, fitted with six raised and fielded panels and fronted by a circa early 19th-century stone rubble porch with flat roof, remodelled in the early 20th century. The first floor has a four-pane casement and two horizontally sliding two-light sashes, the right-hand window renewed in the 20th century. To the rear of the cross wing is a 19th-century stair window with margin glazing bars. The rear door of the through passage has a shallow segmental granite arch with chamfered arch and jambs with diagonal stops.

Interior features include a through passage on the left flanked by stone rubble cross walls, the lower side continuing to first floor level where it meets the lean-to roof, and the higher side continuing above first floor. The doorway on the lower side has a granite arch with chamfered flat lintel and jambs with pyramid stops. The entrance to the hall has a segmental granite arch with hollow chamfer and pyramid stops, with a circa 18th-century six-panel door. The hall has been partly remodelled and divided with thin partitions in the 20th century. The large hall fireplace has a depressed granite four-centred arch with chamfer and left-hand jamb with ball and pyramid stop. The cloam oven, originally on the right, has been removed and replaced with a window lighting the fireplace.

Within the cross wing, the parlour on the front right has a chamfered granite doorframe with diagonal cut stops leading from the stair hall. The parlour fireplace, heated by an axial stack, has a circa late 16th-century granite surround with roll mould and central triangular motif on the lintel with a ball finial, partly obscured by a circa late 18th-century chimneypiece. The first floor joists are finished to provide a flat surface for a plaster ceiling, with two heavy cross beams and slighter morticed joists which are unmoulded. A circa late 16th-century plaster frieze decorated with floral trails and fleur-de-lys motifs in relief is visible. The chamber above has an impressive very large Elizabethan plaster coat of arms in the gable end, with the Royal arms encircled with the Garter, supporters over a metre in height in deep relief, and the motto 'God save the Queene' in the compartment below the shield. The doorframe to this room has a chamfered outer frame and a moulded timber inner frame with hollow-chamfered and ovolo mould. The roof trusses and ceiling above this room were replaced in the late 19th century.

The roof structure above the hall was replaced in the circa 19th century. In the cross wing, the roof structure above the parlour on the front was replaced in the circa late 19th century with a king post roof. The central section has two circa late 16th or early 17th-century trusses with principals having morticed apices and feet boxed in. The jointing of the collars appears to be either dovetailed, notched and lap-jointed, or halved and lap-jointed. The diagonal set ridge and purlins, originally threaded, were replaced with slightly trenched purlins in the 19th or 20th century.

Hennett remains unaltered both externally and internally, with high quality limewashed plasterwork of early date.