Trequite Farmhouse (To Southwest Of Trequite Cross)

Trequite Farmhouse (to southwest of Trequite Cross)

A farmhouse built in the early to mid-17th century and extended with a rear outshut around the late 17th century. The building is constructed of stone rubble with some 19th-century brick dressings, has stone rubble stacks with 19th and 20th-century brick shafts, and is roofed mostly in rag slate with hipped ends.

The main block faces south and comprises three rooms with a lobby entrance to the right (east) of centre, opening onto an axial stack that serves back-to-back fireplaces. A further end stack serves the left (west) room. A continuous two-storey outshut runs across the rear, apparently added around the late 17th century (evidenced by a straight joint in the right end wall). Behind the left room is a kitchen with its own end stack. A cross passage through the outshut connects the centre main room to rear spaces comprising a dairy, an open well stair, and an unheated service room. Access to the stair is available from the right-hand front room or through the dairy from the rear cross passage.

The main block rises to two storeys. The south-facing front has three windows of 19th-century 12-pane sashes arranged symmetrically about a central doorway. The door itself is 19th-century panelled, set beneath a contemporary flat-roofed timber porch. Rear windows are 19th-century casements with glazing bars; the rear roof continues downward as a catslide over the rear outshuts.

Interior features show predominantly 19th-century plaster and joinery with 19th and 20th-century fireplaces in the main range, though the original plan survives intact suggesting earlier features remain. The right-hand room contains two 18th-century china cupboards, and there is a projection for a cloam oven adjoining the fireplace of the central room. The rear portion preserves considerably finer details. An oak-framed doorway from the cross passage to the dairy has an ovolo-moulded surround with scroll stops and contains a contemporary 9-panel door studded with scratch-moulded rails and muntins, hung on strap hinges with fleur-de-lys finials. Remains of another ovolo-moulded door connect the dairy to the stair well. From the unheated service room to the stair is a superior oak doorframe, possibly reset, featuring an ovolo-moulded surround and elaborate bar with run-up stops enriched with rosettes and floral trail. The contemporary 9-panel door here is studded with bead-moulded rails and muntins and hangs on strap hinges with fleur-de-lys finials. The stair has an open string (possibly once closed), turned newels, flat moulded rail, and heavy turned balusters. The stairwell walls on each side comprise fairly large field panels with scratch-moulded muntins and stiles, as do the rear partitions forming a corridor through the first floor. A bedroom entrance on the right (east) has an ovolo-moulded doorframe with scroll stops and a contemporary 3-panel door.

The roof comprises a series of A-frame trusses with pegged and lap-jointed collars and apices, which may be contemporary with the late 17th-century alterations though typically considered mid-18th-century work. Some mid to late 20th-century repair work is evident.

The house displays an unusual plan form that retains intact original features, including relatively high-quality details with unspoilt evidence of the mid-19th-century remodelling.