Steart Farmhouse

Farmhouse. Dating from around the early 16th century, it was remodelled and likely extended in the early 17th century, with alterations occurring in the 18th century. It is constructed of rendered stone rubble with a slate roof, originally thatched, and gabled ends. A prominent stone stack is located on the left end, an axial stack sits to the left of the centre, a projecting rear lateral stack is present, and a more recent lateral stack was added to the right of the centre in the 20th century.

The original layout was a late medieval open hall, probably comprising three rooms and a passage, with the lower end extending as far as the right end wall (four bays). The kitchen, at the far left, may have been added in the 17th century when the house was floored and heated with a rear lateral stack. The room at the lower end was unheated until the 20th century. The kitchen and the hall are linked by an axial passage running parallel to the rear wall, suggesting that the room between them was adapted as a dairy in the 18th century, with the stack added later when it was converted into a small parlour and an awkward staircase was placed behind the stack. The lower end room was unheated until the 20th century and used as a cellar.

The exterior has an asymmetrical five-window front, plus a doorway and access to a wall loft at the right end. A 20th-century plank door is centrally located, leading into the passage. Windows are timber casements, some dating to the 19th century and others to the 20th century, with small panes of glass. Ground floor doorways and a loft doorway are visible on the right-hand side.

Internally, all five ground floor rooms have chamfered stopped crossbeams; the hall’s crossbeams feature scroll stops. The kitchens and hall fireplaces are blocked, but may conceal earlier features. A rounded recess beside the kitchen fireplace may be a former staircase or curing chamber. A fragment of plank and muntin screen remains at the higher end of the entrance passage. The roof structure includes three massive, smoke-blackened jointed cruck trusses, side-pegged, beneath a later roof structure. The original ridge is missing but was diagonally-set, although some sooted rafters remain. Additions to the roof construction include a section of cob wall adjacent to the left-hand truss, which contains a sooted post that formerly supported the ridge. The cob wall is clean on one side but potentially sooted on the hall side.