Croft West

Croft West is a farmhouse dating from the early to mid-18th century. It features walls made of killas rubble with dressed granite quoins, sills, and keystones, as well as flat brick arches. The steep roof is covered with asbestos slate and has sprocketted eaves and brick chimneys at the gable ends. The building has a double-depth plan with two equal reception rooms on either side of a wide entrance vestibule, which leads to a central rear stair hall flanked by service rooms. There is also a 20th-century one-room extension on the east end. The farmhouse is two storeys tall with an attic and has a symmetrical five-window facade facing east-south. The wide central doorway features a 20th-century top-glazed door, and all windows are replacement 12-pane horned sashes. To the right, there is a two-storey, flat-roofed 20th-century extension, which is slightly recessed and has 12-pane horned sashes on both floors. The rear of the house has a doorway to the right of the stair, a mid-floor 12-pane horned sash window, and another window above that lights the flight leading to the attic. The ground and first-floor windows on both sides are 20th-century two-light casements. Inside, many original features remain, including six-panel doors with HL hinges, moulded plaster ceiling cornices in the right-hand front room, the chamber above, and the stair vestibule under the landing of the original stair. The fine open-well closed string stair rises through two floors and features turned balusters, a moulded and ramped handrail, and moulded caps over square newel posts. Although the roof structure has not been inspected, it is said to be mostly original. Croft West was historically known for its fine kennel of hounds called the Four Burrow Hunt, named after four ancient barrows located in the nearby common. Despite the alterations, Croft West remains an important local house, and its fine proportions contribute significantly to the landscape.