Withan Farmhouse

Withan Farmhouse is a circa early 18th-century farmhouse, extended circa early 19th century. It is constructed of painted rubble walls with some granite dressings, slate sills, and a scantle slate roof with original hand-made crested clay ridge tiles and cast iron ogee gutters. Brick chimneys are located over the original ends including the gable end of the parlour wing at the front; the original right-hand chimney is now axial due to a 19th-century extension to the right, resulting in the original gable end forming a cross party wall. The farmhouse has an L-shaped plan with a small outshut at the rear of the original hall/kitchen. Originally a four-room plan, the layout included a large hall/kitchen to the right, a cross passage leading to the stair to the right of the middle, a small pantry to the left of the stair with a passage in front, an inner parlour with panelled dado to the left, and a principal parlour in a wing at a right angle in front of the inner parlour. A large room, possibly a dairy, was added to the right of the hall/kitchen, accompanied by a pantry outshut behind the hall/kitchen. The south-east front has an overall fairly regular four-window appearance, with the gable end of the parlour wing projecting on the left. The original front has two windows to the first floor, as does the front of the circa early 19th-century extension to the right. The doorway is positioned towards the angle with the parlour, and features a 20th-century door and a circa early 19th-century 16-pane hornless sash window above. The hall/kitchen window opening and one above are wider, with a 20th-century PVC window to the ground floor but retaining an original circa 18th-century 3-light casement window with 8 panes per light above. The 19th-century extension has original 12-pane horizontal sliding sashes to the first floor and a 20th-century PVC window to a wide opening on the ground floor. The parlour has a ground and first floor window in the right-hand (north-east) wall; a circa early 19th-century 16-pane hornless sash window to the ground floor and a 20th-century window above. The rear elevation retains original circa early 19th-century horizontal sliding sash windows with glazing bars, and the tall stair window is an original circa early 18th-century 18-pane hornless sash with exceptionally wide internally ovolo moulded glazing bars and crown glass. The interior of the original farmhouse remains largely as built, including a dog-leg closed string stair with column turned balusters and a moulded handrail, fielded panelled doors, and dado panelling in the inner parlour. The farmhouse’s plan is an unusual variation of a circa 18th-century farmhouse design, likely evolving from a late medieval three-room plan remodelled in the 17th century with parlour wings added to the front. Aside from some window replacement, the house is unaltered since the 19th century, and the circa 18th-century stair window is a particularly notable and rare survival.