New Park Farmhouse

A farmhouse, likely dating from the late 16th or early 17th century, with a lower section rebuilt and the main range re-roofed in the 18th century. The construction is rendered stone rubble and cob, with a corrugated asbestos roof, half-hipped at the left end and hipped at the right. There is a brick shaft to an axial stone rubble hall stack and a brick shaft to a rear lateral stack heating an inner room.

The original plan was a variant of a 3-room and cross-passage design. The wide cross-passage was divided axially creating unheated front and rear service rooms, with the entrance positioned opposite the hall stack. A formerly lofted stables/ciderhouse is located at the left-hand end, and to the right is the hall with a dairy outshut to the rear, followed by a long inner room with separate external front access and a straight-run staircase alongside the right end wall. The 18th-century re-roofing obscures the full development sequence. A substantial partition wall between the hall and the inner room suggests a rebuild or addition to the inner room, and the lower end, with a lower roof line, appears to have been entirely rebuilt in the 18th century.

The exterior is two stories with a 5-window range. Most of the windows are late 19th or early 20th century, 2-light casements. The three upper-storey windows at the right end have 6 panes per light, while the others have 2 panes per light. Plank doors provide access to the main entrance and inner room; the stables/ciderhouse has a loft door above a plank door.

Inside, the hall has a timber lintel to the fireplace, with recessed brick lining and a bread oven. There’s a deeply chamfered cross ceiling beam and bressumers with run-out stops. The inner room likely has concealed ceiling beams and a fireplace. The dairy fittings are intact. The stables/ciderhouse retains a cobbled floor.

New Park Farmhouse exemplifies a long-house plan, with the lower end used for livestock housing and the cross-passage adapted for service rooms. It shares this plan with Hill Farmhouse and Woods, West Anstey.