South Yolland Farmhouse

South Yolland Farmhouse

This is a farmhouse of late 17th-century origin, dating to around 1690, which was remodelled and extended in the 18th century, with further additions and alterations made in the mid-19th century and subsequently.

The main building is constructed of granite rubble with an asbestos slate roof featuring gable ends and gable end stacks. An attached cider house to the left has a slurried slate roof with ridge tiles and gable ends.

The original plan consisted of two rooms with a central entrance to a cross passage, with the kitchen to the right and hall to the left, each room heated by a gable end stack. In the mid-18th century, the passage was widened to accommodate a straight stair, which reduced the hall to a smaller room and enlarged the kitchen. What may have been a rear passage door was left in the rear of the former kitchen, which then became a parlour. A two-storey outshut was built behind the main range, containing a kitchen with a rear lateral stack to the right and an unheated dairy to the left. Around the same time, a single-room cider house was added to the left side. In the mid-19th century, a rear kitchen was added to the rear right and extended to form a range of single-storey outhouses parallel to the main house, creating a narrow yard behind.

The front elevation displays two storeys with a symmetrical three-window range. The first floor features 16-pane sashes, while the ground floor has a central half-glazed door with a hipped slate hood, a 20-pane sash to the left, and a 12-pane sash with sidelights to the right. Ground floor windows have cambered stone heads. The cider house to the left is single-storey with an apple loft above. It has a two-light window with shutters at ground floor and a loading door to the apple loft in the left gable end. The right end features an external stack with a curved oven projecting at its base. The outshut has two-light eight-pane casements with L hinges and cambered heads at ground floor and two-light two-pane casements with cambered heads at first floor. The rear kitchen has a twentieth-century porch and a twentieth-century three-light casement. At the rear, there are two two-light casements at first floor, each light containing eight panes with L hinges and crown glass with bull's eyes, alongside a single-light and two-light casement to the dairy. A door to the cider house is positioned at the right end.

Internally, the front right room, the original kitchen, retains a granite fireplace with visible jambs that are chamfered with pyramid stops, though a later wooden chimneypiece now conceals the lintel. A panelled cupboard is located to the right with two panelled shutters to the window. The entrance passage contains the straight stair. In the rear outshut, a winder stair with stick balusters stands at the centre. The dairy to the rear left has a slate floor and winder slate shelves. A doorway in the rear of the original kitchen may mark the site of the former rear passage door; the floor on the outer side of this doorway features granite paving.

The cider house retains complete machinery for cider making, a rare survival. The crushing bowl is constructed of stone with a wooden lining and a stone wheel in granite mounted on a wooden shaft. The cider press is also complete, with its spanner and a wooden pier approximately one metre away, set on a plinth on the floor and secured to the ceiling, which may have been used to gain leverage with the spanner when turning the press. A granite trough completes the equipment.