Dainton Farmhouse

Dainton Farmhouse is a farmhouse dating from the 16th century, with alterations made in the 17th, 18th, and 20th centuries. The building has rendered rubble walls and a hipped asbestos slate roof, with corrugated iron covering the stable section. Two projecting lateral stacks stand at the front, both rendered; the right-hand stack has been cut off at the eaves, while the left-hand stack is rubble with offsets and a brick shaft.

The house originally followed a three-room and through-passage plan. Although there is no direct evidence that it originally had an open hall with a central hearth, the type of roof truss and the presence of a smoke-blackened rafter in the roof are suggestive of this arrangement. If this was the case, the house was ceiled in around the early 17th century and the front lateral hall stack was added at this time. The lower room to the right remained unheated, while an inner room had a stack inserted on the front wall, though this has since been removed.

During the 18th century, the house underwent significant internal remodelling and the roof was probably raised as part of efforts to upgrade it. The lower room had a fireplace added to its front wall and was lined with panelling in a conversion to a parlour. The inner room was probably extended at this stage for use as a kitchen. The rear barn wing behind the lower room is likely contemporary with this remodelling. In the 20th century, modern grates were inserted into the earlier fireplaces, beams were plastered over, and the inner room was divided into two. A lean-to at the end of the inner room was added, probably in the late 19th or early 20th century, as a wash-house.

The building is two storeys high. The front has an asymmetrical three-window elevation with 20th-century casements of one, two, and three lights; some are metal-framed without glazing bars. A 20th-century glazed door stands to the right of centre beneath a door hood with what are probably 18th-century carved wooden brackets and 20th-century trellised sides. The ground floor window beyond the left-hand stack is a four-light casement with glazing bars, probably dating from the 19th century. An outshut stands against the left gable end. At the rear of the right-hand end is a barn wing which projects slightly towards the road.

Interior features include an elbow of a jointed cruck that has been uncovered embedded in the front wall, with the wall built up above it. The roof now consists of 18th-century straight principals with pegged collars slightly set into the trusses. One truss above the lower end may be slightly earlier, with each principal having sockets for several trenched purlins. A smoke-blackened timber, possibly the original ridge pole, has been re-used at this end. No original fireplaces are visible. In the former hall and passage are two chamfered cross beams with hollow step stops; the beam in the passage has been cut off at the end to allow access to stairs inserted at the rear. First-floor banisters have turned balusters and may date from the 18th-century remodelling. The lower room is lined with fielded panelling with a moulded chair rail and cornice. The original chimney piece has been removed, but the panelling above it survives. A number of 18th-century two-fielded-panel doors survive on the ground and first floors.

This house is an interesting example of a probably late medieval farmhouse upgraded in the 18th century, with a characteristic reversal of use between the lower and inner rooms.