Bojorrow Farmhouse And Garden Walls To South

Bojorrow Farmhouse and Garden Walls to South

A farmhouse with origins in the 17th century or possibly earlier, extended during the 17th century and remodelled circa early 18th century and again circa late 18th century. The building is constructed of dressed serpentine and elvan stone with some dressed granite and rubble to the ground floor, and painted cob to the first floor. It is roofed in steep scantle slate with a half hip at the west end, and has a brick axial chimney towards the right and a brick chimney over the gable end of a wing projecting forwards on the right side.

The plan is slightly irregular and L-shaped. The original structure was probably a three-room cross passage plan with a lower end to the west, a hall with a front or rear lateral hearth and rear stair turret, and an unheated inner room to the right. A steep bank rises at the rear. In the 17th century, a parlour wing was extended at right angles in front of the right-hand room. Eighteenth-century remodelling included demolition and rebuilding of the front wall of the hall, construction of new hearths for the hall and inner room (set back-to-back and partly blocking the rear stair turret), demolition of the rear wall of the hall with the addition of a shallow pantry outshut, insertion of a stair between the inner room and parlour, and reduction in width of the parlour wing windows. Most joinery and carpentry was replaced at this time, including probably the roof. The lower room to the left retains a 17th-century ceiling and has thicker walls than the hall.

The building is two storeys with a slightly irregular three-window south front and a gable-ended wing projecting forwards on the right-hand side. A doorway is positioned roughly centrally to the fenestration, probably in its original position though the jambs were rebuilt in the 18th century. The doorstep retains a stopped rebate which may have formed part of one of the original jambs. The door is an 18th-century two-panel ledged type with the lock rail removed, and is covered by a shallow 19th-century brick arch.

Ground floor window openings have granite lintels; the left-hand opening is reused and features a groove, and both openings are fitted with 19th-century horizontal sliding sashes. The first floor to the left has a circa late 18th-century two-light casement with horizontal glazing bars only (originally leaded between). Other first-floor openings have horned sashes with glazing bars. The parlour wing has one window to the west front with a doorway at the far left adjoining the angle. The door is four-panelled with flush beaded bottom panels. Above the doorway is a blocked window opening, and to the middle and over this are very wide window openings. Both openings are partly blocked on the left where circa early 18th-century horizontal sliding sashes were inserted. Each opening contains a pair of two-light sashes with very wide internally ovolo-moulded glazing bars; the taller ground floor window has eight panes per light and the window above has six panes per light, with much crown glass remaining. The other elevations remain unaltered since the 19th century and include an early 18th-century window to the stair.

Interior features include 17th-century chamfered ceiling beams with straight stops in the left-hand (lower end) room. Many 18th-century features are present, including bowtell-moulded beams to the hall and inner room, four-panel doors with paired panels to the middle and a larger panel at the top, an open-well closed-string stair with column-turned balusters and a moulded handrail, shaped shelves to niches flanking the parlour fireplace, and a coved plaster ceiling to the chamber above. The roof structure was not inspected.

The garden wall to the front is constructed of rubble with dressed coping and has a curved corner to the south west. An entrance gateway passes through the west wall, and a mounting block stands against the outside of the west wall. The entrance is formed as a lych gate with a stone bench at each side, with the house wall forming the back of one bench and a low coped wall for the south side. A 19th-century wrought iron gate, its finials sawn off in the 20th century, closes the entrance. The mounting block has five dressed stone steps.

This is a rare 17th-century house that has remained virtually untouched since the 19th century and contains many interesting features, including among the earliest examples of horizontal sliding sashes yet found in this survey.