Pennans Farmhouse

A farmhouse of circa 1680, substantially remodelled and extended between circa 1700 and 1720, with mid-19th-century alterations and 20th-century additions and modifications.

The house is constructed of slatestone rubble with the front elevation faced in granite ashlar. It is roofed in slate with lead rolls to the hips and crested ridge tiles. Chimney stacks to the rear have brick shafts, whilst the stack at the right side has an ashlar shaft.

The original building follows a 2-room plan with a central entrance to an entrance hall, and principal rooms to left and right, each heated from a rear lateral stack. A projecting stair tower rises at the rear of the entrance hall, with an entrance to a cellar to the rear right. Between circa 1700 and 1720, wings were added to the front right and left to form a symmetrical U-plan. The wing to the front left appears never to have been completed and lacks internal access from the original house. The wing to the front right contains one room at the right end of the original house and a lateral corridor with stairwell, heated from a stack at the right side. A one-room addition serving as a kitchen was added to the rear left in the 20th century.

The exterior presents a 2-storey symmetrical U-plan front. The main central range has 5 bays, with wings projecting to front right and left, each of 3 bays. A plinth runs continuously though the later plinths on the wings are of later date; a heavy moulded cornice crowns the composition. The centre bays are marked by a moulded string course, which continues as a flat band course around the wings. The central entrance features an 18th-century 6-panelled fielded door in an eared architrave with pediment. Two 18-pane sashes flank this, set in exposed boxes with moulded stone cills and voussoirs; some sashes are early 19th-century or 20th-century replacements. The first floor displays a central blind window bearing a stone shield of arms, with two similar 18-pane sashes to right and left.

The inner side of the right wing contains an early 18th-century 6-panelled and fielded door to the left, with an 8-pane overlight featuring thick glazing bars, flat-faced on the outside and ovolo-moulded within, all set under voussoirs and keystone. At first-floor level to the left is an 18-pane sash of early 18th-century date with thick glazing bars, voussoirs and keystone. To the right, ground and first floors display blind windows with moulded cills, voussoirs and keystones. The wing front has three 18-pane sashes with thin glazing bars at ground and first-floor levels, all with moulded stone cills, voussoirs and keystones; the plinth and band course are continued here.

The front left wing is now gutted. Its inner side retains two blocked windows at ground and first-floor levels with moulded stone cills, voussoirs and keystones. The plinth and band course remain, though the cornice is partly missing. The left side has been partially rebuilt in the 20th century, with 12-pane sashes and a blind window inserted. The right side of the house is rendered in random rubble, with a plank door and an 18th-century panelled door, both with overlights, placed under a pentice hood of slurried slate. The first floor holds one 19th-century 12-pane sash with voussoirs and a 16-pane sash with flat brick arch, the voussoirs remaining from a formerly higher lintel level. A single-storey outbuilding is attached to the right, probably also of 18th-century date, with a plank door and three blocked windows with granite voussoirs; it has a corrugated asbestos roof with a window and double door to the rear.

The rear of the main house features a projecting stair tower at the centre with a hipped roof and a late 18th-century round-arched 12-pane sash with splayed glazing bars and keystone. A 20th-century window is set at lower level to the right. A large external stack stands to the left of the stair tower. At lower level to the left is a 2-light 4-pane casement with granite voussoirs serving the cellar. A straight joint in the masonry to the left marks the addition of the early 18th-century wing; the ground floor has 3 windows here, the centre one blocked, all with voussoirs, and 2-light casements with 8 or 6 panes to right and left. At first floor there is a central blind window, a late 18th-century 18-pane sash to the left and an early 18th-century 18-pane sash with thick glazing bars to the right, the latter set under a cambered brick arch. To the right of the stair tower, a 2-storey 20th-century addition sits in the angle to the main range, obscuring the rear lateral stack to the right. This addition has a door and window at ground and first-floor levels.

The interior of the main central range contains a fine open-well stair of circa 1680 with barleysugar twist balusters and a ramped moulded handrail, reached via an entrance passage from the stair tower. The front right room at ground floor retains complete bolection-moulded panelling with dado cornice and central plasterwork on the ceiling featuring rosettes; a 19th-century chimneypiece stands to the rear. The front left room displays a late 17th-century plaster ceiling with a simple moulded oval. At first floor, the room to the right also features complete bolection-moulded panelling with an early 18th-century chimneypiece to the rear, having an eared architrave and modillions below the mantel, and a 2-panelled bolection-moulded door.

In the front right wing, internal features date to the early 18th century with some 19th-century alterations. At ground floor, the front room had a modillion cornice and an 8-panelled fielded door, with a 19th-century built-in dresser and 19th-century kitchen fireplace at the outer side with mantel; a 20th-century range has been inserted. The lateral passage has fielded dado panelling, whilst the stair hall contains a plaster cornice with rosettes and modillions. A tight open-well stair features turned balusters and a wide moulded handrail with ramped dado panelling. At first floor, the front room has an 8-panelled fielded door, modillion cornice and fielded panelling, with a closet at the outer side containing complete fielded panelling and modillion cornice, and a small room, possibly a further closet, to the mid left side of the wing, also with fielded panelling. A service stair provides access to the attic.