Harvestwood Farmhouse

Harvestwood Farmhouse

A farmhouse of mid to late 16th-century origin with 17th-century improvements, refurbished in the mid to late 19th century. The building is constructed of plastered local stone and flint rubble with some cob sections; it has stone rubble chimney stacks, with the hall stack being stone rubble and the parlour stack topped with 19th-century brick. The roof is thatched.

The farmhouse follows a 3-room-and-through-passage plan, facing south-west and built down a hillslope. At the uphill left (north-west) end is an unheated inner room, probably originally a dairy or buttery. Next to this is the hall, which has an axial stack backing onto the wide passage. A semi-circular projection in front of the hall stack may have been either a newel stair turret or a late 17th-century curing chamber. Below the passage on the right is a parlour with a gable-end stack and a winder stair alongside. Adjoining the right end is a former stable block of the same height as the main house but wider, projecting forward from the main front and containing a through-passage on the hall side. Part of the stable has been converted to domestic use.

Developmental history shows that the original mid to late 16th-century house was built with the hall fireplace and a 3-room-and-through-passage plan. The hall was probably, though not certainly, open to the roof at this time. The inner room was originally smaller and was lengthened in the late 18th to early 19th century. If the hall was open to the roof, it was floored over in the early to mid 17th century. In the mid to late 17th century, the former service end was rebuilt as a parlour with a heated master chamber above. The stable block was added in the mid to late 19th century. The house is 2 storeys with mid to late 19th-century service outshots to the rear of the main house.

Exterior: The main house has an irregular 4-window front of 19th and 20th-century casements with glazing bars. Some first-floor windows rise slightly into the eaves. The passage front doorway is right of centre and contains a 19th-century part-glazed studded plank door with a 20th-century hood. The former stable at the right end breaks forward and contains a plank door with a window alongside. The roof is gable-ended with eaves carried down over the stable projection.

Interior: The inner room has a plain axial beam of late 18th to early 19th-century date. The stair here may be 17th century; the window in the rear wall lighting the stair has a 17th-century oak frame but is missing its mullion. The hall fireplace was rebuilt in the 19th century. The hall crossbeam is 17th century, chamfered with step stops. The partition along the lower parlour side of the passage is clad with planks but has an oak plank-and-muntin screen behind. The parlour end is mostly 17th century. The crossbeam has deep hollow chamfers with step stops. The fireplace here was also rebuilt in the 19th century. Alongside is the winder stair with a short banister at the stairhead, a turned newel post, and splat balusters. The chamber fireplace is lined with 19th-century brick but has an exposed 17th-century oak lintel, chamfered with scroll stops. The central section of the roof is original, carried on clean side-pegged jointed cruck trusses. The parlour roof has a late 17th-century A-frame truss, and the inner room was extended with a late 18th to early 19th-century A-frame truss with X-apex. The former stable has plain 19th-century carpentry detail.