Pogrean Farmhouse

Pogrean Farmhouse

Farmhouse dating to the 18th century, possibly remodelled from a 17th-century house. The building is constructed of painted shale rubble and some cob, with the front partly rendered, granite and slate sills, and wooden lintels. The roofs are covered in scantle slate and rise in three levels, with brick chimneys positioned over the gable ends of the taller main part. A lower pitched roof adjoins the left-hand gable end with an external stone 3-stage breast surmounted by a square brick chimney at the far left gable end. A further gable end to a wing projects at the front on the right side, from which a chimney has been removed, probably during the 20th century.

The plan is of double depth with two principal front rooms and a central entrance passage with stairs at the rear, flanked by slightly shallower rear service rooms. A pantry or dairy occupies the left side, and a back kitchen with a large hearth is positioned to the right. The partition between the kitchen and front room is cranked to provide more space at the hearth end. At the left end sits a single-room plan wing with a gable end stack, which may date to the 17th century. At the front of the right-hand end is a mid-19th-century single-room plan wing at right angles, containing a second staircase.

The building is two storeys high with an overall south-west front of four windows, consisting of a single window set back on the left, a main three-window front, and the projecting gable end of the circa mid-19th-century wing on the right. The main front may originally have been nearly symmetrical. A four-pane sash to the ground floor right of the doorway is probably a recut opening, positioned to the left of a now blocked original opening, likely created when the wing was added and the reception room subdivided. Ground floor left and first floor windows are original 18th-century 12-pane horizontal sliding sashes. The central doorway is contained within a 20th-century glazed porch. Chamfered and stopped wooden lintels sit above the first floor left and middle windows, while a reused 17th-century ovolo-moulded lintel crowns the first floor right-hand window.

The front of the single cell part on the left features irregularly disposed wide window openings to the ground and first floors, and a smaller square window to the ground floor right, all fitted with two-light casements. The rear elevation shows slightly irregularly disposed window openings with a mid-floor central stair window. Blocked openings appear to the left of the stair window and below it. An old three-light casement with six panes per light occupies the ground floor left, with a two-light casement above at first floor level, featuring horizontal wooden glazing bars with some leaded panes between. Other windows are later replacements. Chamfered and stopped wooden lintels crown the original openings. The wing features a tall round-headed stair window with a hornless sash on the south-east wall, and to the ground floor left of the south-east gable end of the main house is a two-light 12-pane horizontal sliding sash. A fixed light at first floor level above carries horizontal wooden glazing bars with leaded panes between.

The interior retains much original 18th-century carpentry and joinery, including an open-well stair with rectangular balusters and panelled doors, some with original HL hinges and original latches. Parts of the ground floor, first floor and roof were not inspected but are said to be of similar period to the features observed. The house has been hardly altered since the 19th century and retains many 18th-century features. Particularly interesting are the windows with leaded panes, a characteristic feature shared with some other houses on the Lizard Peninsula.