Monkerton Farmhouse

Monkerton Farmhouse is a late 17th-century farmhouse, likely incorporating an earlier building, with alterations dating to around 1720 and the late 19th/early 20th centuries. The construction is primarily roughcast mass wall, with some handmade brick walling in Flemish bond and a rear wing added between 1888 and 1903 in stretcher bond brick. The roof is slate, half-hipped at the west end of the main range and hipped at the east end, with brick shafts to the stacks.

The farmhouse follows an overall U-plan, facing south onto Pinn Lane. Internally, the layout has been significantly altered with the insertion of numerous partitions, but the core retains a three-room and through-passage plan with two rooms to the west and one to the east of the entrance. The kitchen’s original location is unclear. The rear wing to the east may be an addition and formerly contained a parlour on the ground floor, which was heated by a stack at the north end. The precise location of the original staircase is unknown, with the present staircase situated at the north end of the building; a late 19th-century stair wing was subsequently added.

The front elevation is asymmetrical with five windows. A late 19th/early 20th-century front door is centrally located, positioned within the former through passage; it is protected by an early 18th-century deep horizontal porch hood supported on shaped timber brackets with a lead roof. A second door has been created to the west of centre with a half-glazed door dated around 1900. The casements have been reglazed with mid-20th-century metal windows within the original openings. A main stack, backing onto the passage, has an old brick shaft with multiple flues, though the upper courses have been rebuilt. The west end wall of the main range is constructed of local red brick with blue headers and features a segmental-headed three-light casement. The brickwork has been “hacked back” to accommodate the later rear wing, and appears to have extended further north at one time. The rear (north) elevation includes a single-storey lean-to between the wings. The late 19th-century wing has four-pane sashes, some of which have been replaced with metal casements.

Interior features are largely concealed. The former hall, now subdivided, retains an ovolo-moulded cross beam, which is painted but not boxed in. The lower end room at the east end has an exposed crossbeam and a plaster cornice showing evidence of earlier decoration beneath layers of paint. The rear east room, also subdivided, was an early 18th-century parlour with a cornice. Surviving features include early 18th-century panelled doors and a panelled window seat above the parlour. One step leading to the cellar is an ovolo-moulded stone reused from a 17th-century building. Late 17th/early 18th-century A-frame trusses with pegged and halved joints at the apex and concealed collar joints are visible in the main range, hidden by later plaster.

The farmhouse was part of a group of smallholdings and market gardens acquired by the County Council in 1911, according to information provided by a former tenant.