Leonard Farmhouse

HALBERTON ST 00 NW 5/159 Leonard Farmhouse - - II* Farmhouse. C15, with C16 and later alterations. Cob, stone plinth, roughcast, under gabled-end slate roof. Formerly a 3-room, through-passage plan, with the higher end to the left-hand side of the passage; the medieval smoke-blackened roof survives under the present replacement, and the roll mouldings on the beams to the main ground floor rooms suggests a comparatively early floor insertion. The higher end extension (used for storage) looks C18. End stacks (that to the left now axial), and a prominent front lateral stack with 3 pairs of set-offs, heats hall. All with brick shafts. 2-storeys. Front: 4-window range, 2 and 3-light barred casement window to both floors; 1 to each ground floor room; one 3-light window to later extension (the joint in the fabric between this and the main house is clearly visible); wide planked door to extension; door to passage under slate-roofed porch that leans aganst front stack. C20 windows and buttresses to right-hand extension; rear outshut under catslide roof with two 4-light openings; left hand end with one 3-light casement window, 18 leaded panes per light. Interior: C16 planked door to rear opposing entrance to passage; lower end room with 1 roughly chamfered cross beam. Hall: grid of intersecting beams each with 7 roll mouldings and 1 convex moulding, forming 4 ceiling squares, the lower end beam cut back to receive later stairs; chamfered, slightly cranked lintel is all that survives of the big front fireplace, everything else rebuilt. Parlour: grid of intersecting beams, each wih 5 roll mouldings and 1 concave moulding, forming 4 ceiling squares, the rear higher-end square with deep chamfer only suggesting a corridor or porch projecting into the room. Circa 1900 end fireplace with polished limestone and tiling. Roof: 4 bays, the hall occupying 2; 3 jointed crucks, with yoke pegged, diagonal ridge piece, and 2 pairs of trenched purlins; the central truss to the hall has a chamfered arch-brace; the lower end truss is closed, and the lower end only slightly sooted; hall heavily smoke-blackened; parlour (again with a closed truss) is very lightly sooted.

Listing NGR: ST0023409550