New Hall Farmhouse

New Hall Farmhouse is a farmhouse dating from the late 16th century or earlier. It is built of local stone rubble with dressed quoins and evidence of lime wash, with a rag slate roof featuring gable ends and a gabled end to the hall bay on the left side. A gabled end projects to the rear wing on the left. A large stone rubble projecting hall stack with a cloam oven projection is prominent on the front, and a stone rubble stack sits on the right hand gable end.

The ground level rises to the left side and steeply to the rear. The original plan remains uncertain, though the house appears to have had a through passage with two or more rooms. The left hand room, the hall, is still heated by a front lateral stack with cloam oven projection and probably a smoking chamber adjoining on the right. The entrance to the through passage survives on the right, though the rear door has been blocked. The gable end wall on the right was probably the original stone rubble cross wall on the lower side of the passage. The single storey outshot on the right is probably sited where the original lower end once stood, with the front wall probably incorporating much earlier masonry and the rear wall rebuilt in the 20th century. This room was heated by an axial stack (now the gable end stack) which backed onto the lower side of the passage. The partition on the higher side of the passage has been removed. The stair projection towards the rear of the lower side of the hall has been partly incorporated into the rear wing.

Despite the roof trusses being replaced in the 18th and 19th centuries, it is reasonable to suggest that the hall may originally have been open to the roof and heated by an open hearth fire, as the existing hall stack and hall bay appear to be early 17th century additions. The rear wing appears to post-date the hall, with a ragged masonry joint between the two ranges, though the walls are very thick and the wing has been built into the side of the hill, suggesting this building may occupy the site of an earlier house which would have been built down the slope, with the later house added on the lower side across the slope.

The building is two storeys with an asymmetrical two-window front. A two-storey hall bay projects on the right with a three-light mullion window on the ground floor bearing a hood mould, though the mullions have been removed. The first floor has a two-light mullion window. The projecting hall stack joins on the right with a cloam oven projection. To the right is a porch dating from circa the early 19th century, built of stone rubble with a slate lean-to roof and a 19th-century door to the original through passage. A granite chamfered surround frames a window to the left with the stanchion bar removed; this window appears to have been blocked when a smoking chamber was built to the side of the fireplace. The first floor has a two-light mullion window and four pigeon holes. A single storey outshot sits on the right, on the site of the earlier lower end. A possible straight joint on the left hand side wall marks where the hall bay appears to have been added. The rear elevation shows a stair projection in the angle between the front range and rear wing.

Internally, the hall on the left has wany floor joists possibly of the 17th century with chamfer, one joist bearing a run-out stop. A projecting bay projects at the front of the hall. The fireplace has a chamfered granite lintel and jambs with pyramid stops. A large cloam oven with clay door is present. A possible smoking chamber adjoins the fireplace on the lower left hand side, now a cupboard but showing indications of a thick layer of soot and an opening from the chamber into the flue. Behind the smoking chamber a window opens to the exterior. The stone stair to the rear of the hall has been partly remodelled. Roof trusses have been replaced in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, with two earlier pieces of roughly cut purlins surviving. The house is little altered and exceptionally picturesque, with an early and interesting plan.