Luckett Farmhouse

Luckett Farmhouse is a farmhouse with probable 16th-century origins that was extensively remodelled, probably in the late 17th century. The lower end was largely rebuilt in the 20th century, with major repairs and alterations undertaken at the time of survey in October 1986.

The building is constructed of unrendered stone rubble and some cob, with a thatch roof featuring gable ends. It has brick shafts to stone rubble stacks with offsets at the left gable end and to the front lateral hall stack with offsets. A capped stack sits at the right end of the main range, and a tall stack to the kitchen wing at the right lower end has two bread oven projections.

The farmhouse appears to have been originally a 3-room-and-through-passage plan, entirely remodelled in the 17th century. Evidence of the 16th-century fabric survives in a blocked doorway immediately to the right of the stack (presumably to the former through-passage), a fragment of the original newel staircase to the rear of the former passage, and a garderobe incorporated in the rear stair projection. During the mid-17th century, the interior was entirely remodelled. The roof structure was replaced, new floors were inserted or replaced, the hall was extended by taking in the former through-passage, and a new entrance was made into the former lower end which was axially screened to create a small unheated rear room. The stair outshut was enlarged and a larger timber winder staircase was inserted, now entering the rear of the hall. At the same time, a large two-storey kitchen wing projecting forward of the main range, with a large front end stack, was added at the lower end. In the 20th century, this end, apart from the gable end stack, was entirely rebuilt and reduced to a flat-roofed single storey.

Externally, the building has two storeys and a three-window range. The fenestration is all 20th-century, consisting of three-light casements except for a four-light casement at the right end of the upper storey. There is a 19th-century plank door with glazed upper half giving direct entry to the inner room. Both the inner room window and doorway have brick lintels, and alterations to the roof structure at this end reveal the front wall was rebuilt in the 19th century. A lean-to porch at the right end has a plank inner door. The kitchen wing was undergoing complete reconstruction (apart from the kitchen stack) for the second time in the 20th century. A 17th-century three-light ogee mullion window to the rear of the hall and a three-light timber casement above with rectangular leaded panes remain.

The interior is rich in detail and contrasts with the plain exterior. Both the hall and inner room have richly moulded cross beams—one to the inner room and two to the hall—with upper end bressumers with richly carved scroll stops. The axial joist arrangement is complete and all joists are scratch-moulded. An integral bench at the upper end of the hall has a 17th-century panelled back with two tiers of small panelling surmounted by five sections of ornamental carved cresting (comparable to Lemons Farmhouse, Atherington). A timber lintel fronts the inner room fireplace, and a chamfered timber lintel with elongated scroll stops fronts the hall fireplace. The hall and lower end partition is entirely rendered. The lower end retains the headrail of an axial screen dividing the entrance hall from the small rear unheated room, with functions differentiated by the axial joist arrangement—those to the front entrance hall being scratch-moulded. A chamfered timber lintel fronts the kitchen wing fireplace. The 17th-century winder staircase to the rear of the hall retains, to the right, the surviving bottom and top treads of the earlier newel stair. The stair outshut extends further to the right and incorporates a garderobe consisting of a deep plastered niche in the rear wall of the chamber over the lower end with a shoot exiting at the base of the outshut beside a later buttress.

The chambers retain their 17th-century layout, with large chambers at each end and a smaller central chamber divided axially towards the rear to create a linking passage at the head of the stairs between the two end chambers. All the stud partitions and original door surrounds survive, including that at the head of the stairs and in the thick lower end wall which originally provided access to the chamber over the former kitchen wing. All door surrounds have chamfered surrounds and flat four-centred arched heads, except for that to the central chamber, which is ovolo-moulded with small rams horn stops. The chamber over the inner room is heated by a decorative 19th-century Gothick style fireplace; that over the lower end has a 17th-century chamfered timber lintel. Almost all the upstairs lath and plaster ceilings have been removed, but the latter chamber retains a fragment of a 17th-century moulded plaster cornice to the closed truss partition.

The roof structure is entirely 17th-century, comprising five raised jointed cruck trusses with feet that have mostly been modified. There are three tiers of threaded purlins and a threaded ridge purlin. Two of the trusses at each end of the central chamber are closed. The roof timbers are entirely clean.

Luckett Farmhouse is a remarkable example of an almost complete 17th-century remodelling of an earlier farmhouse, retaining exceptionally complete and good-quality 17th-century interior details.