Drym Farm, Adjoining Outbuilding, Rear Garden Walls, Well And Mounting Block

Drym Farm, including adjoining outbuilding, rear garden walls, well and mounting block

This is a house with attached outbuilding, rear garden walls, well and mounting block dating from the early 19th century, though a 17th-century chamfered granite fragment is incorporated in the outbuilding. The building is constructed of granite ashlar with some killas headers; the sides and rear use ashlar as bonding headers and around openings with killas between. The roof is grouted scantle slate with brick chimneys over the original gable ends, though the right side is extended with a hipped end over an apple loft. Cast iron ogee gutters with lion's head joints complete the exterior detailing.

The house follows a double-depth plan. Originally it was two rooms wide, with a parlour on the left and kitchen/living room on the right, separated by a cross passage leading to a central stair hall at the rear. Behind the right-hand room was a back kitchen or dairy with a back door, and possibly a pantry behind the left-hand room. In the later 19th century, a full-depth apple loft was added to the right-hand side, with its ground floor linked to the house by a doorway and serving as the kitchen. The apple loft is accessed by a first-floor doorway in the end wall. The left side of the rear was extended with an irregular range of stone-walled, slate-roofed outbuildings, probably comprising a forge, stabling, and structures for other animals and storage. The house is two storeys.

The south front has four windows overall. The original house has a nearly symmetrical three-window front with a nearly central doorway and a single window from the apple loft on the right. A 20th-century conservatory contains a four-panel door. The original windows on the first floor are 16-pane hornless sashes; the apple loft's first floor has a 16-pane horned copy. Ground-floor openings have later four-pane horned sashes. The rear elevation is better preserved, retaining all original 16-pane hornless sashes and a tall mid-floor round-headed stair sash with a fanlight head. The original back doorway is blocked; the present doorway into the apple loft extension has a blind window above it. A 20th-century conservatory/porch is located to the front. The apple loft ground floor is lit by two 16-pane windows in the end wall, and there is a loading doorway with an original ledged door bearing shaped iron strap hinges on the first floor to the left. It is possible the apple loft was originally unlit or that window openings had louvres behind shutters. Below the doorway are iron treads projecting from the wall to prevent rats entering the apple loft.

The interior contains an original dog-leg stair with closed string, stick balusters and square caps over square newels. An arch between the passage and stair hall springs over pulvinated jambs. Some panelled doors remain, along with original floors, most partitions and the roof structure.

The rear garden wall is rubble with dressed granite elliptically-headed coping. Round-headed granite monolith gate piers are positioned near the rear right-hand rounded corner, with granite steps. Just outside the gateway to the right is a three-step mounting block cut from a single piece of granite. The well at the opposite corner has a stone surround and a cast-iron pump.

Drym was recorded as a manor in 1128, and this house may stand on the site of the original manor house. The farm is notable for its high-quality, unusually bonded masonry unmarred by later pointing. The combination of original roofing and many surviving original windows creates a striking impression. The rear elevation, which overlooks a cobbled farmyard, is of even greater quality than the front.