Narracott Farmhouse Including Iron Railings To The Garden

Narracott Farmhouse Including Iron Railings to the Garden

A farmhouse of probably late medieval origin, substantially altered and extended over three centuries. The building is constructed of rendered stone rubble and cob, with an asbestos slate roof featuring a gable end to the right and a hipped end to the left. The roof is punctuated by two small rendered rebuilt stacks—one axial and one at the right gable end—plus a brick shaft to the rear hall stack enclosed in a later stair projection, and another brick stack at the gable end of the rear service wing.

The plan is complex and L-shaped, comprising four rooms and a through-passage in the main range, with a gable-ended stair addition to the rear of the inner room and hall. A large gable-ended two-storey rear kitchen wing extends from the rear of the left (upper) end, flanked by a continuous dairy and scullery lean-to outshut. Although the roofspace was not accessible at survey, three raised cruck trusses set low over the hall end strongly suggest the building originated as a former open hall house. The dramatic rise in floor level across the hall further indicates a possible later ceiling added to the lower end. The lower end is partitioned axially towards the rear to heat a narrow store-room. The gable end stack may be a 19th-century insertion.

The wide through-passage contains a small straight-run staircase, probably of late 18th-century date, judged from the two-panelled door at its foot. The hall underwent substantial remodelling in the 19th century. The inner room, later used as a study, is unusual: it is heated by a stack backing onto the hall, and its large chamfered scroll-stopped axial ceiling beam suggests it may be a 17th-century addition. It is partitioned axially towards the rear to create a separate passage from the hall, which runs past the unheated store room (possibly the original dairy) and beyond the inner room to the dairy lean-to outshut. The solid wall partition between the inner room and store room suggests the latter may be an 18th-century addition, while the two-storey rear kitchen wing and outshut appear to be early 19th-century additions. The kitchen wing contains a secondary straight-run staircase serving only the room above the store room. In the late 19th century, a grand staircase was added in a narrow gable-ended two-storey extension to the rear of the upper end of the hall, with access from the passage behind the inner room.

The exterior presents a two-storey, five-window range. Most fenestration is late 19th-century six-paned sashes, except at the left end where a 20th-century two-light casement has been installed. The ground floor retains late 18th and early 19th-century fenestration: a 16-paned sash towards the left end, two 20-paned sashes to the left and a single 20-paned sash to the right of the through-passage doorway. The single sash at the lower end is concealed by a lean-to glass conservatory with brick plinth. The through-passage doorway is approached by a 19th-century classical porch with chamfered square-section columns supporting a plain canopy. The door is six-panelled with glazed upper panels. The rear doorway, now used as the main entrance, is sheltered by a timber latticed porch dated 1870. The rear elevation displays 19th-century sashes except for a 20th-century aluminium-framed window inserted into the kitchen wing.

The garden is enclosed by iron railings with ornamental finials and a matching gate.

Internally, the lower end features a 19th-century fireplace surround and grate. Two-panelled doors from the through-passage serve the hall. The lower end and the staircase hall/through-passage partition may conceal an earlier screen, with a 17th-century chamfered headrail exposed. The hall and inner room are distinguished by 19th-century marble chimney-pieces; that to the inner room is flanked by integral cupboards, while that to the left retains 18th-century hinges. A chamfered axial ceiling beam with scroll stop at the upper end is a notable interior feature. The storage room was not accessible at survey. The 19th-century kitchen wing has a panelled back to an integral wall bench. Lime-ash floors extend to the kitchen and dairy; the scullery has a part-cobbled, part-flagstone floor. The hall and through-passage are tiled. All principal chambers feature raised and fielded two-panelled doors. The late 19th-century staircase is fitted with square-section newels with carved finials and stick balusters. The feet of three raised cruck trusses are visible: one above the lower end, a closed truss over the hall/through-passage partition, and one over the hall.

The house remained in the possession of the Huxtable family for approximately two centuries until 1986, and the interior features of interest reflect the several phases of alteration undertaken by successive generations of a single family.