Carines Farmhouse With Attached Garden Wall

Carines Farmhouse is a house, formerly a farmhouse, with an attached garden wall dating from the early 17th century with substantial later additions. The building was extended in the mid-17th century, enlarged again in the late 17th to early 18th century, and received a further addition in the mid-18th century. Various alterations were made in the 19th and 20th centuries. It is constructed of slatestone rubble and cob, rendered at first floor level, with scantle slate and slate roofs finished with ridge tiles and gable ends. The house has an axial stack and a gable end stack to the right with brick shafts. The left end is hipped with an end stack with a brick shaft, and the front wing to the left has a front gable end with a gable end stack with a brick shaft with cornice.

Plan and Development

Of the early 17th-century house, the passage and lower end room survive to the right. The lower end room is heated from an end stack to the right, and the passage was originally a cross passage. Around the mid-17th century, a two-storey outshut was added to the rear of the passage and lower end room. This outshut was unheated, containing a dairy at ground floor with a loft above. To the right was a stair tower with stairs continuing up to the level of the loft over the main range.

In the late 17th to early 18th century, the upper end room was rebuilt. This created an entrance leading to an entrance passage to the left and a room to the right, with a lateral passage running along the rear. A second stair tower was added to the rear of this room, and a one-room plan addition was built to the right of the stair. This new room was heated from a stack to the rear.

Around the mid-18th century, a cross wing was added at the left end, containing one room to the front heated from a stack at the front gable end and one room to the rear heated from a stack at the left side. At the same time, the early 18th-century room at ground floor in the main range was given a canted bay at the front. Also in the mid-18th century, a garden wall was attached to the front of the cross wing, extending in an L-plan to enclose a garden to the left of the house.

Exterior

The building has two storeys with an asymmetrical five-window front. All windows at the front are 19th-century varied sashes and casements. The main range is to the right, with the cross wing projecting to the front left.

In the main range at ground floor to the left is a two-light three-pane casement, a 19th-century six-panelled door, and a late 19th-century single storey canted bay with a six-pane sash to the front and four-pane sashes at the sides. At first floor are two two-light six-pane casements.

To the right is what remains of the 17th-century house. At ground floor to the left is an early 18th-century two-panelled door with a timber lintel with chamfer and run-out stops. To the right is an eight-pane sash and a six-pane sash with similar chamfered and run-out stopped timber lintels. The first floor has a two-light three-pane casement, a two-light two-pane casement, and a single two-pane casement.

To the left is the two-storey cross wing. At the inner side this has a 19th-century half-glazed door and a 20th-century two-light six-pane casement at first floor. The front gable end is blind, built in stone rubble.

Attached to the front left of the cross wing is the garden wall, constructed in slatestone rubble and cob, rendered, with slate coping and ridge tiles. The wall is about two metres high. At the junction with the house is a two-centred arched doorway with brick dressings and a plank door. The wall runs about ten metres to the north-west, then is returned at right angles and continued for about another ten metres, diminishing in height. The left side of the cross wing is in stone rubble with stone quoins and has two two-light three-pane 19th-century casements at ground and first floor.

The right end of the main range has a weathered external stack. At the rear, the early 18th-century addition is to the right, projecting beyond the earlier range to the left and rendered at first floor level. At ground floor is a 20th-century half-glazed door and nine-pane window. At first floor is a 20th-century two-light six-pane casement and to the right a 19th-century two-light four-pane casement with some leaded cames remaining. At the left side is a 20th-century window at ground floor.

The rear of the 17th-century stair tower and dairy is to the left. At ground floor is a two-light two-pane and ventilator casement with timber lintel to the dairy and a two-light four-pane 19th-century casement to the right. The outer side of the outshut has a two-light eighteen-pane casement with early 19th-century L hinges at first floor, lighting the chamber above the dairy. The hipped roof has 20th-century skylights. At the rear of the stair tower is a 17th-century window at upper level: a two-light wooden casement with two panes in each light, with an ovolo-moulded mullion and surround and a slate cill.

Interior

The original lower end room has 19th-century ceiling beams and an end fireplace with a 20th-century range inserted. To the right of the fireplace is a cupboard with a single fielded panel to the door with H hinges. To the rear right of the room is an early 18th-century two-panelled door with LH hinges, leading to the stair tower. To the rear left is the doorway to the dairy, with a 17th-century door featuring strap hinges (one with fleur de lys), scratch mouldings and studs, and a plain moulded frame. At the front of the room is an early 19th-century bench below the window. Part of the stud partition wall to the passage remains. To the left is the 17th-century doorway formerly leading to the upper end of the house, which has an ovolo-moulded wooden frame with pyramid stops and a door of three planks with scratch mouldings and studs. The front door to the passage has strap hinges and studs.

The dairy has a slate floor and slate shelves with roughly hewn ceiling beams. The stair tower to the rear right has a winder stair. Up to first floor the treads are replaced, but the 17th-century treads remain at the flight to the attic, with a plank door leading to the attic. The roof space over the original range is of five bays, with principal rafters halved and pegged and numbered, two rows of slightly trenched purlins, and straight collars pegged to the principals, some halved and pegged.

There are two rooms at first floor over the lower end and passage, with a rear lateral passage inserted. Both rooms have early 18th-century two-panelled and fielded doors, and the room over the passage has an 18th-century closet with panelled doors and a drawer.

In the early 18th-century range, there was originally one large room at first floor with a moulded plaster cornice, parts of which survive. The room has been partitioned with a rear lateral passage and retains an early 18th-century two-panelled door. The stair well probably originally had double doors at first floor level. The stair is an open-well type with turned balusters and a moulded handrail, with knob finials added later over the newels. Leading off the landing is a doorway to the chamber over the dairy, with a two-panelled fielded door. This room has a 19th-century chimneypiece to the rear and a closet with panelled doors and a shelf over. The ground floor of this part of the house has an entrance passage with a moulded plaster cornice. The front room with the 19th-century canted bay has an 18th-century two-panelled door.

The cross wing to the end left has two rooms at ground and first floor. At ground floor, the front room has a moulded plaster cornice with a central plaster circle with bolection moulding. The front fireplace is rebuilt in the 20th century with a cupboard recess to each side. An early 18th-century six-panelled fielded door leads into the rear room, which has an end fireplace to the left, rebuilt in the 20th century. At first floor, both rooms have two-panelled doors. The front room has a complete moulded plaster cornice and a blocked end fireplace.

Historical Note

John Wesley is recorded as having stayed in this house. The front wing is said to have been built for him, although the architectural details suggest that the wing pre-dates Wesley's visits. Carines Farmhouse is a particularly good example of a multi-phase building, with good features remaining from the 17th and 18th centuries.