Stenhill Farmhouse

Farmhouse, dating from the late 16th to mid-17th century. It is constructed of rendered and painted stone rubble and cob, with a front wall of local stone rubble. The roof is covered with rag slate, with gable ends, and a slightly lower, hipped end to the left. There is a projecting stone rubble end stack with a brick shaft on the right, and axial stacks with brick shafts to the left of the centre, and on the rear slope. The original plan was likely a two-room and through-passage layout, heated by end stacks, with a larger hall kitchen on the left and a smaller parlour on the right. An outshut extension was added to the rear, probably in the 18th or 19th century, heated by a stack on the rear wall of the earlier range. Further extension occurred in the 19th century with a room added to the left hand end of the earlier range. A dairy was added to the rear of this 19th-century extension in the late 19th century. The exterior is two stories high, with a regular 1:3 window front, and a 19th-century extension to the left. The entrance is to the right of centre with a 19th-century part-glazed door, beneath a slate hood, flanked by two 20th-century three-light casements. Above, there are three 20th-century two-light casements, all set within earlier openings. The 19th-century extension to the left has a 20th-century door and window above, with a straight joint marking the division between the two ranges. The interior features a wide passage flanked by thin plastered partitions, with a circa 19th-century framed staircase inserted to the rear. The hall kitchen on the left has heavy, chamfered floor joists with no stops visible. A timber lintel to the fireplace is partly visible, and bears scratched dates and initials, including a date of 1790. The ceilings to the passage and the right-hand parlour are plastered, while the room to the far left, the likely 19th-century extension, has circa 19th-century floor joists. The roof retains remains of both 17th- and 18th-century roof structures; the earlier trusses have principals halved, lap-jointed, and pegged at the apices with halved lap-jointed and pegged collars and trenched purlins, several of which are chamfered and well finished. Later roof trusses have collars lap-jointed and pegged onto the face of the principals, and are more roughly cut.