Sanguishes Farmhouse

Sanguishes Farmhouse

A farmhouse probably dating from the early to mid-16th century, with major improvements made in the later 16th and 17th centuries, and modernised in the late 19th century. The building is constructed of plastered cob on low stone rubble footings, with stone rubble and cob chimney stacks topped with 19th and 20th-century brick (one incorporating a stone rubble chimneyshaft), and a corrugated asbestos roof.

The house follows an L-plan with the main block facing south. It contains a four-room-and-through-passage plan. The lower end to the east contains a parlour with an axial stack backing onto the passage, beyond which is a narrow service room at the end. This service room was converted to a potato store in the late 19th century and sealed off from the parlour, though it was probably originally a buttery or cellar. A winder stair off the passage has a late 17th-century structure, though the balustrade was replaced in the late 19th century. On the other side of the passage is the dining room, which was the former hall with a projecting rear lateral stack. At the western end is a large kitchen with a projecting gable-end stack. A dairy block with unheated servant accommodation above projects at right angles in front of the left end. The house almost certainly began as some form of open hall house, though the early structural history is hidden because the main block roof is inaccessible. Much of the structural carpentry and early features are concealed behind 19th and 20th-century plaster. The present layout appears to result from a major late 17th-century refurbishment. The building is two storeys with secondary lean-to outshots across the back.

Externally, the irregular three-window front contains various 20th-century casements, including recent uPVC examples. The potato store doorway at the right end contains a 20th-century plank door. The passage front doorway, positioned right of centre, contains a late 19th-century part-glazed six-panel door. On the inner side of the dairy block is an unglazed 18th-century flat-faced mullion window. At the back of the kitchen is an original doorway with a chamfered lintel featuring scroll stops, containing an old plank door. Another similar doorway exists at the front between the kitchen and dairy block. Above the rear doorway is a late 17th-century oak-framed window containing rectangular panes of old glass, now sheltered under the outshot roof. The main roof is gable-ended.

The interior is largely the result of 19th and 20th-century modernisations, with many features hidden behind plaster, though the early layout survives intact. The modernisations appear essentially superficial. The exposed features date to the late 17th century. The partition between the parlour and the potato store (former buttery) is close-studded, with a half beam against the end wall that is chamfered with step-nick stops. In the parlour, the crossbeam is boxed in and the fireplace is blocked. The main stair rises from the passage alongside the parlour stack; the structure is late 17th-century though the balustrade is late 19th-century. An original one-panel cupboard door survives under the stairs, with a list of births to the Harris family inscribed on its back from the early 18th century, including information about each baby's weight. The dining room (former hall) has plain chamfered crossbeams and a blocked fireplace. The kitchen has crossbeams chamfered with scroll-nick stops and a large blocked fireplace. The dairy ceiling was lowered in the 20th century. The roof of the dairy block is carried on side-pegged jointed cruck trusses with lap-jointed collars. The roofspace over the main block is inaccessible, though side-pegged jointed crucks show below ceiling level, and possibly an A-frame truss exists over the kitchen.