Golland Farmhouse

Golland Farmhouse is a farmhouse, probably dating from the mid to late 16th century with 17th-century alterations. The building is constructed of rendered stone rubble and cob, with a thatch roof featuring gable ends.

The house follows a 3-room and cross-passage plan. A tall front lateral unrendered stone rubble hall stack with offsets dominates the elevation, heightened in brick. A brick stack is set across the angle of the rear left (lower) end corner.

The development of the house suggests it was built at a transitional period. The very light smoke-blackening to the hall roof indicates a very short period elapsed before the hall was ceiled over. Solid wall partitions rise to the apex of the roof at the lower (left) end of the cross-passage and between the hall and inner room. External rendering may conceal straight joints at these divisions. The internal evidence suggests that both the lower and inner room ends are contemporary with the hall and were both ceiled from the outset. The inner room end is known to have retained its own separate staircase until the 20th century.

The original function of the two end rooms is unclear. The superior ceiling beam to the lower end suggests it may always have served as a parlour, with a stack probably introduced in the 19th century. The inner room end appears to have served as the service end, its upper storey having been used for labourers' accommodation into the early 20th century.

The hall is divided from the passage by a plank and muntin screen. A single large cross ceiling beam is sited towards the lower end. Two mortises near the rear wall on its upper face indicate the former existence of a steep stair or ladder, suggesting this may have provided access to a jettied lower end before the hall was ceiled. The jetty beam is stopped at its front end and rests on the timber lintel of the hall stack above the lower end jamb, indicating the hall stack was not a later insertion. The light smoke-blackening could thus result from an open hall which from the outset was heated not by an open hearth but by an integral lateral stack. The hall joists appear to have been keyed from the outset to take a lath and plaster ceiling, suggesting a possible 17th-century rather than late 16th-century date for the final ceiling over of the hall.

Apparently in the 19th century, a staircase was inserted in and filling the cross-passage, involving the removal of the rear part of the screen and its resiting and reuse as a doorway across the foot of the stairs.

The building is 2 storeys and features a 4-window range. Fenestration is principally early 20th century: 4-paned sashes at the left end and lighting the hall, and 2-light casements with 2 panes per light at the right end. The door is 20th century. A dairy outshut to the rear of the hall and inner room features a corrugated asbestos roof.

Interior features include a rough unchamfered axial ceiling beam to the inner room. The axial ceiling beam to the lower end has a wide chamfer terminating in large hollow step stops. The plank and muntin screen between cross-passage and hall has its headbeam and sill partially concealed, but the muntins appear to be stopped at the base of the chamfers on the passage side. The rear part of the screen handrail and one of the planks have been resited at the foot of the cross-passage stairs; the rear part, now set back slightly, has been replaced with an identical screen.

The chamfered cross ceiling beam towards the lower end of the hall features mortices for a ladder or steep stairs close to the rear wall, and is stopped on the hall side at the front end with a diagonally cut stop. A chamfered fireplace lintel with run-out stops is present. A bread oven occupies the rear wall, though the oven projection has been demolished. An outline of a probable creamery recess is visible to the upper end wall of the hall.

No roof trusses exist over the lower or inner room end, the purlins being carried entirely by the solid wall partitions. The purlins, rafters and battens to the inner room end appear to be contemporary with the hall roof structure. A single raised cruck truss to the hall section is sited directly over the hall ceiling beam, with a cambered mortised and tenoned collar and 2 tiers of trenched purlins. The smoke-blackening is virtually indiscernible on the cross-passage side; on the hall side it has affected mainly the lower parts of the rafters, battens and thatch.

Golland Farmhouse retains features of considerable interest which together suggest a transitional plan form with both ends ceiled from the outset and the hall originally open to the roof but apparently heated by an integral lateral stack.