Lower Bramble Farmhouse

Lower Bramble Farmhouse is a farmhouse dating from around the early 16th century, with significant remodelling in the 17th century and a left-hand crosswing likely rebuilt or extended in the 18th century. The construction is stone rubble with a slate roof, gabled at the right end and hipped over the left-hand crosswing. There's an axial stack to the left of the centre and a projecting front lateral stack to the right.

Originally an open hall house, the plan is unusually complex. The lower end, to the right, features a grand arched brace roof in the hall. This lower end was floored before the hall, resulting in jetties over the through passage. The hall stack is positioned on the higher end wall opposite the passage, and the hall itself may have been floored later in the 17th century. The lower end was likely rebuilt in the 17th century and is now divided into two rooms, one serving as a parlour. A newel staircase is located in an outshut adjacent to a two-story porch, rising from the hall. The 17th-century positioning of the kitchen is unclear. An 18th-century crosswing was added to the left end, creating a large, unheated room at the higher end. The hall’s size was later reduced with the introduction of an axial passage at the back, between the through passage and the left-end crosswing.

The external appearance presents a handsome, asymmetrical three-window front elevation. This features a collection of 19th or 20th-century timber casements with small panes. A hipped end defines the left-hand crosswing, while the two-story porch, centrally located, is topped with a hipped roof. A stair outshut is set against the left return of the porch, and the porch doorway features a moulded, rounded granite frame below a 19th-century two-light casement.

Inside, the porch has a pitched stone floor and a timber, square-headed inner doorway with a 20th-century door. An old plank and stud front door has been relocated to the rear of the passage. A moulded half beam is found to the right of the passage, and a section of plank and muntin screen separates the hall from the passage. The hall features a moulded jetty beam, although a plain beam now supports the inserted floor; a blocked fireplace with a modern chimneypiece obscures a larger original fireplace. A good 17th-century doorframe and door lead to the stair outshut, the frame decorated with elaborate moulding and stops. An octagonal newel post serves the staircase, and there are two similar first-floor doorframes in the lobby at the top. The front room of the lower end has a fireplace with a granite lintel, hollow-chamfered jambs, and a relieving arch. The room over the hall boasts a plastered canted ceiling revealing portions of a high-quality arched brace roof with chamfered braces. The feet of the trusses over the lower end have boxed-in principal rafters. The roof apex was inaccessible during a 1987 survey. The house is of high quality and has an interesting plan form.