Longbrook Farmhouse

Longbrook Farmhouse is a complex farmhouse with structural fabric probably dating from the 16th century, but substantially remodelled and extended during the 17th century and again in the early to mid-18th century. The walls are constructed of roughly coursed slatestone rubble, with a gable-ended slate roof featuring early crested ridge tiles at the right-hand end. The building has a rebuilt stone rubble stack at the right gable end, two brick axial stacks (one offset from the ridge), and a 17th-century stone rubble stack with dripcourses serving the central rear wing.

The building's complex structural history makes the original form difficult to identify. The long principal range contains a large room at the right-hand end, heated by an end stack, with a small entrance hall to its left and a separate stairhall beyond. Next to this is a parlour, both of which evidently formed part of an early to mid-18th-century remodelling. At the far left-hand end is a room now self-contained with a wing behind it, which may originally have been non-domestic in purpose; both were probably added in the later 18th or early 19th century. There are two other rear wings, one behind the stairhall and one behind the right-hand room, both heated and dating from around the early 17th century. The right-hand wing was probably a kitchen, as it contains a smoking chamber with a service room beyond. Extending at right angles from this wing is another small unheated wing, presumably for service or non-domestic purposes. Evidence remains of two blocked newel stairs: one at the right gable end of the house by the stack and one at the rear towards the centre of the house.

The exterior is two storeys high, with a stone eaves cornice along the front. The front elevation is asymmetrical, presenting a 2:4 window arrangement without a visible break in the stonework, though the roof pitch is considerably steeper to the left-hand part, and the level of the first-floor windows differs between the two parts. The windows are 4-pane sashes of later 19th or early 20th-century date. Ground-floor windows are mostly topped with flat stone voussoir arches. A probable 18th-century heavy 6-panel door stands at the centre of the right-hand part, with a contemporary flat hood featuring a moulded cornice above it. The right gable end has a small stair projection behind the chimney. The rear elevation features a long wing projecting from the left end with a curved newel stair projection in the angle; some windows of this wing have stone dripcourses above. A shorter wing projects at the centre with a stone eaves cornice along one side. At the right-hand end, a wide hipped-roof wing projects forward. A small forecourt is formed at the right-hand end of the house by a slate-coped wall set in front of the wing, creating a setback from the front elevation.

The interior contains notable features. The large right-hand room has a massive fireplace with moulded wooden lintel, dressed stone jamb to the right, and two ovens (one stone, one brick). The room displays chamfered and stopped cross beams with similar moulding on their surface and scratch-moulded joists. At the rear of this room is a curved recess with a stone roof, which formerly housed a newel stair. The stairhall contains an 18th-century open-well staircase with turned balusters and newel, ramped handrail, open string, and carved tread ends. A 6-panel door in a doorcase with pulvinated frieze leads from this hall to the parlour. The parlour features fielded panel shutters and an 18th-century chimneypiece with projecting pilasters, with cupboards to either side having arched heads. A simple decorative plaster ceiling with delicate ribs forms a geometric design of interconnected rectangles and circles. One of the first-floor bedrooms contains an 18th-century panelled windowseat. The roof timbers were probably renewed in the 18th century and do not protrude into the bedrooms. The right-hand rear wing contains a smoking chamber on the ground floor beside the fireplace, which has stone curved walls and a shelf.

This is a very interesting and complex farmhouse whose plan cannot be easily interpreted, containing a wealth of good-quality features throughout.