Whitethorn Farmhouse

Whitethorn Farmhouse

Farmhouse dating from the early 16th century, extensively refurbished and partly rebuilt in the early to mid-17th century, and extended and modernised in the 19th century. The building is constructed of plastered cob on rubble footings with granite stacks, some topped with plastered 19th-century brick, and has a thatched roof. It is L-shaped and faces south.

The house originated as a three-room-and-through-passage plan with an inner room at the west end. This was rebuilt in the 17th century as a parlour cross-wing projecting slightly to the rear. The service end was extended in the 19th century with a dairy and hayloft. The building is now two storeys throughout. The front elevation is irregular with five windows, comprising 19th-century 20-pane sashes serving the hall (left of the passage door) and the parlour chamber under a 20th-century washboarded gable end of the cross-wing. The parlour has 20th-century French windows. The three first-floor half dormers feature thatched gables; the two to the right have what are possibly 18th-century three-light casements with glazing bars and 19th-century shaped bargeboards beneath the gables. A hayloft loading bay is situated at the right end. To the rear stands a 17th-century granite chimney shaft with triple-moulded coping, and a two-storey projection behind the rear passage door, either a former stair turret or porch, which includes two 17th-century two-light oak-framed windows with ovolo-moulded mullions.

The interior is of considerable quality. The continuous smoke-blackened roof structure and thatch over the hall, passage, and service room indicate that the original house was open to the roof, heated by an open hearth fire and divided by low partitions. The roof is carried on true or jointed cruck trusses, with the lower parts boxed in, featuring cambered collars and chamfered soffits. Along the lower side of the passage head beam, elements of a 16th-century oak plank-and-muntin screen remain in situ, though the planks and muntins, including a shoulder-headed doorpost, were rearranged in the 20th century. The service room contains a large granite fireplace with a sloping oak lintel and an inserted 19th-century bread oven. The hall has a large granite fireplace with an oak lintel, both possibly 16th-century, though all other notable features are early to mid-17th century. In the service room, the axial beam and window lintel are both chamfered with scroll stops. In the north-east corner, an oak-framed newel stair has a scratch-moulded plank door and strap hinges with fleur-de-lys terminals. A similar door leads from the passage to the hall but features vertical moulded cover strips. The hall is fitted with an ovolo-moulded crossbeam, and an arrangement of pegs in the headbeam suggests an oak plank-and-muntin screen behind the plaster.

The parlour includes a chamfered axial beam with scroll stops and a large granite ashlar fireplace with hollow chamfered sides. The fireplace is crowned with an ogee-moulded oak lintel featuring enriched chamfer-scroll stops. A moulded plaster frieze comprises repeated rectangular panels of simple bifurcated scrolls, interrupted in places by square panels containing pea-pod motifs. A winder stair to the right of the fireplace has a scratch-moulded plank door and strap hinges with fleur-de-lys terminals, with a similar cupboard alongside. The parlour chamber contains a granite fireplace similar to but smaller than that below, and is spanned by a two-bay roof supported on an oak A-frame truss with dovetail-lap collar. The present bathroom over the passage is lined with reused 17th-century oak scratch-moulded planking.