Old Newham Farmhouse

Old Newham Farmhouse is a farmhouse and adjoining stables, now converted into a cottage, located in Otterham. The building dates from the early to mid-17th century with 18th and 19th-century additions and alterations, and 20th-century modifications. It is constructed of stone rubble and cob, with the rear and lower left end faced in stone rubble, while the higher right end extension and lean-to at the lower end of the front are built of stone rubble. The roof is covered with rag slate, featuring gabled ends, and a rag slate lean-to roof. The chimneys comprise a lower left-hand projecting gable end stack with set-offs and an axial stack to the left of centre, both with rebuilt red brick shafts.

The original plan follows a 2-room and through passage arrangement, with the lower left end forming the kitchen and a larger hall to the right. The kitchen has a gable end stack with an oven, while the hall has an axial stack backing onto the passage, also with an oven. The hall features a bay projecting to the right of the front. An outshot was added, probably in the 18th century, to the front of the hall and passage, overlapping the hall bay slightly. The outshot was extended towards the lower end in front of the kitchen at approximately the same time as the stable with a loft above was added to the higher right-hand end. During these alterations, the eaves were raised and most of the house was encased in stone. A porch was added to the back doorway of the passage in the 19th century. In the 20th century, the plastered stud partition on the lower left side of the passage was removed and the stable at the higher right end was converted into a separate dwelling.

The building is two storeys tall with a long, asymmetrical approximately 7-window range. The lower left end features three 19th-century gabled half dormers above a lean-to outshot across the front. To the right is the projecting two-storey hall bay with a slate lean-to roof carried down from the main roof and 19th-century two-light casements on both floors. To the right, the former stables have a gabled loft doorway, now a window, and a gabled stone dormer to the far right. The ground floor features a doorway to the left and two windows to the right, all with 20th-century casements and doors.

The rear elevation has a probably 19th-century stone rubble porch to the passage doorway and a 19th-century single-light hall window with a smaller one above to the right. There are no other openings in the rear wall except for two gabled dormers to the loft over the former stables.

Internally, the lower room is the kitchen and contains two chamfered cross-beams with run-out stops and square section joists. The fireplace in the lower gable end has a chamfered wooden lintel with run-out stops and a cloam oven on the left-hand side. All but a short section at the front remains of the stud partition to the left of the former passage.

The hall is larger than the kitchen and contains two chamfered cross-beams, one with step stops and the other with a form of crude pyramid stop, plus a third half beam at the higher end. The joists have scratch mouldings. The beam over the hall bay has a bowtell moulding. The hall bay has a probably 17th-century bench on all three sides, supported on shaped bracket-like legs. The fireplace at the lower end of the hall backs onto the former passage and has granite monolithic jambs and a large wooden lintel with run-out stops to the chamfer. The left side of the fireplace is open behind the jamb with a square section wooden lintel above. The hall and passage doorway is also on the left side of the fireplace. On the right side of the fireplace is an oven with an iron door. To the right of the fireplace is a 20th-century staircase, probably replacing an earlier one in this position at the back of the hall.

The roof features bolted trusses formed from some old roof timbers.