Troakes Farmhouse and attached cow house

Troakes Farmhouse and Attached Cow House

A farmhouse with late-medieval origins that was extensively remodelled in the early 17th century and 18th century, with an attached cow house at the north end probably dating from the 18th century. The building has undergone various alterations from the 19th century through to the 21st century.

The structure is constructed of random stone rubble with a rendered south gable wall. The main roofs are covered with corrugated sheet material, previously probably thatched. The roofs of the porch, rear outshut and west lean-to are covered with double Roman tiles and corrugated metal sheeting. An ashlar chimneystack rises at the south gable end, and an off-centre brick stack sits below the ridge to the rear, which has been rebuilt.

The house is arranged in five bays with a modified three-room, cross-passage plan and small mid- to late-19th-century additions. An agricultural building, most probably a cow house, is attached to the north end of the house, forming a continuation of the west and east elevations. Together they define the east side of a narrow, rectangular yard. A linear range of agricultural buildings previously formed the west side.

The two-storey farmhouse faces west and is characterised by its long elevations with the taller north end formed of the attached agricultural building. Windows are of a range of styles and dates. The west elevation contains two doorways and evidence of a third entrance at the north end, which has been infilled and had a window inserted into it. The current north entrance is contained within a projecting porch with a monopitched roof and is a later introduction. The doorway towards the south end has a simple moulded doorframe and a plank door opening onto the cross-passage. To the right is a single-storey lean-to structure dating from the 19th century, built of stone rubble and timber boarding. Many windows in the west elevation are 19th and 20th-century casements of one and two lights, with timber lintels to the ground-floor openings. There is a first-floor, three-light timber casement window of possible 18th-century date at the north end. Two windows have been replaced in uPVC. The south gable wall is rendered and contains one small, ground-floor opening which has been infilled. The east, garden elevation contains a wide doorway with chamfered frame and probable 19th-century plank door. To the left of this is a vertical joint in the ground-floor masonry providing evidence of alteration or rebuilding. The end, south bay has a three-light casement to the ground floor and a 17th-century timber mullioned window of three lights with a central metal casement (boarded over in January 2021) at first-floor level. Built against the north half of the elevation is a single-storey outshut of several phases of construction containing two- and three-light casement windows.

The interior shows substantial remodelling in the 17th and 18th centuries. The current north entrance opens onto the kitchen, which contains a large stone inglenook fireplace with a bread oven that has been subject to rebuilding and modification. The ceiling beam has shallow chamfers and is a later replacement. An 18th-century door of wide planks and strap hinges to the side of the fireplace opens onto a staircase to the first floor, and a doorway leads to the 19th-century rear outshut. Immediately north of the kitchen, the position of a cross-passage is denoted by blocked doorways at either end and chamfered ceiling beams in the side walls. It is likely that the 19th-century timber partition separating the passage from the kitchen has replaced an earlier screen. The central room has a fireplace with mid-20th-century tiled surround and a 17th-century deep-chamfered ceiling beam with stepped stops that terminates short of the east wall where it is supported by a wooden bracket. An identical beam in the southern principal room similarly terminates short of both the east wall and the west wall, and is carried on brackets, suggesting the walls have been subject to rebuilding. A four-panel door in the south wall leads onto a wide cross-passage between the central and south rooms. The passage has a low ceiling and 19th-century plank entrance doors at either end. The south room beyond has a much-reduced fireplace with a tall wooden surround and mantle shelf. The recess to one side of the stack contains a small window (blocked externally) and may have previously contained stairs to the first floor. An enclosed staircase, probably of 19th-century date, is on the east side of the room. The first floor is arranged into five rooms comprising three similarly-sized bedrooms and two narrower rooms. Some refurbishment took place in the 19th century, as evidenced by the plank and batten doors along the west side. One of the partition walls retains an earlier, probable 17th-century flat-arched doorway with a pegged, chamfered and ogee-stopped doorcase and a door of wide boards and strap hinges. Although the rooms have ceilings obscuring some roof trusses, it is understood that they may include parts of two jointed cruck blades. There are also two rows of trenched purlins.

The cow house attached to the north end of the house is a two-bay structure with animal housing to the ground floor and a hayloft above. It is square on plan and taller than the adjacent dwelling. Its west elevation has a tall, off-centre entrance with the remains of a plank door, probably 19th century, and a first-floor taking-in door that is boarded. The north gable wall has two ground-floor openings: an inserted timber casement window which has replaced an earlier doorway, and a small opening with a timber shutter, both with dressed stone lintels. There are no openings in the east elevation. Internally, the ground floor is open with an axial ceiling beam and exposed joists supporting the wide floorboards of the hayloft. There is a narrow gap in the floor alongside the east wall where hay would have been dropped to a feed rack below. The roof structure has a simple A-frame truss with an applied collar of 19th or 20th-century date.