Sandhill House

Sandhill House is a farmhouse, now a house, likely dating from the early 17th century, with a substantial addition in the late 18th century and later alterations in the 19th and 20th centuries. It is constructed of rendered stone rubble, with an asbestos slate hipped roof featuring deep, bracketed eaves. The front range has an axial brick stack, while the rear range has a gable-end stack with a rendered shaft.

Originally, the house probably had a three-room and passage plan. In the late 18th century, a new front range was built, and the rear rooms were reconfigured. The front range now includes a library to the left, a stair hall and entrance hall, and a canted bay with rooms to the right. The rear range has been adapted for service use.

The two-storey, asymmetrical front elevation has three bays to the left, a canted bay, and three bays to the right. To the left, at ground and first floor, are a 12-pane sash window and a tall 24-pane sash with Gothic glazing bars. To the right is a 6-panelled door with a 12-pane sash window above, and a 12-pane window added in the 20th century at ground floor to the right. The canted bay is two stories and has three 12-pane sashes at ground and first floor—the ground floor section is blind on the right side. The bays to the right contain a 12-pane sash and a 12-pane window added in the 20th century at ground floor, a 12-pane sash at first floor, and a tall, blind round-arched window to the far right. Attached to the right end is a rubble screen wall with a narrow, round-arched gateway and an attached privy to the right end. The left side of the house has two 6-pane lights with margin glazing at ground floor to the right, a central 20th-century half-glazed door, and two tall 8-pane lights with margin glazing at ground floor, with matching windows at first floor and cast iron balconettes. The right side has a 9-pane light and a 2-light casement on the ground floor, a central 6-panelled door, and two 12-pane sashes on the first floor. The rear elevation is largely modern, with 20th-century windows (two at ground floor and three at first floor), and a small 20th-century lean-to at the right end. To the left, the front range extends beyond the original range, with two 20th-century windows at first floor and one at ground floor. A single-storey rubble lean-to is set in the angle between the front and rear ranges, featuring a granite doorway with a round arch, chamfered and stopped, which is likely a re-sited feature.

The interior retains fine details from the late 18th century, including an open-well staircase in the stair hall with Corinthian columns, stick balusters, a scrolled string, and a wreathed handrail. The doorway to the left-end room has Corinthian pilasters and an oval plaster cartouche above, and the room itself has a plaster cornice. A round arch with Gothic detailing provides access to the rear of the entrance hall. On the first floor, the room in the canted bay has a marble chimney piece with pilasters and a plaster cornice. The rear range formerly had a barrel-vaulted ceiling at first floor; remnants of the barrel vault are visible in the roof space. The roof structure incorporates halved and pegged principal rafters, trenched purlins, and a ridge purlin, and has been reconstructed above the earlier trusses.