Higher Brownsham Farmhouse And Barn Adjoining To North-West

Higher Brownsham Farmhouse and Barn Adjoining to North-West

A stone-built farmhouse of early 17th-century origin, substantially developed over subsequent centuries, with an adjoining barn to the north-west. The house retains its traditional external character and contains a remarkable interior plaster ceiling of exceptional decorative quality.

The walls are constructed of stone rubble, rendered at the front. The roof is of natural rag slate for the house and asbestos for the barn. The building features a brick axial stack and a large rubble stack at the left gable-end with a brick shaft.

The plan form is complex and reflects extensive later modifications. The house now comprises a larger room to the left, heated by a fireplace at its left end and serving as the main entrance, with a smaller room to its right heated by an axial stack that divides the two spaces. The right-hand room is actually in two parts, with its right section apparently taken from the adjoining barn, which was probably added in the late 18th century. A narrow wing projects from the front of the left-hand room, evidenced by a first-floor doorframe as a late 17th-century addition, likely for service purposes. A 19th-century two-storey porch was added to the rear of the left-hand room, and the right-hand room has been extended slightly to the rear with a staircase inserted behind the stack. The original plan form remains difficult to establish, though it possibly consisted of a three-room-and-through-passage arrangement, with what survives representing the hall and inner room of this layout. Some rebuilding evidence exists at the lower gable-end, though archaeological survey would be necessary to determine the original extent.

The front elevation is asymmetrical with three windows, the barn attached at the right-hand end and a narrow wing projecting from the left end. On the ground floor to the left is a 20th-century panelled and part-glazed door beneath a slate hood. Above this, on the first floor to the left, is a three-light 20th-century small-paned casement. At centre first floor is a twelve-pane early 19th-century hornless sash, with a taller later 19th-century sash to the right, forming a half-dormer. Below the central window is a taller 20th-century two-light casement and a fixed small-paned light. The projecting wing displays two 19th-century twelve-pane sash windows on the first floor and two-light early 20th-century casements below.

The barn has a wide cart entrance at its left end with flanking buttresses and a smaller building projecting from its right-hand end. The wide barn doorway reuses two 17th-century ovolo-moulded ceiling beams as lintels.

The irregular rear elevation features the barn to the left with a small wing projecting from its end, a single-storey section to its right, and a gabled two-storey porch projecting to the right of centre. Mainly 19th-century sash windows appear throughout, including a staircase window with marginal glazing bars to the left of the porch. The porch entrance is in its right-hand side. A probably early 20th-century single-storey wing projects to the right of the porch.

Interior features are limited on the ground floor, though fireplaces are likely covered. The doorway into the right-hand room has an ovolo-moulded 17th-century wooden frame with raised and hollow step stops. A chamfered ceiling beam with ogee stops appears in the right-hand room. On the first floor of the narrow front wing is a blocked doorway with an apparently 17th-century chamfered frame featuring masons mitres.

The most significant interior feature is the very fine decorative plaster ceiling in the chamber over the left-hand room, dating to circa 1620–40. The ceiling is designed in a pattern of two concentric circles of hearts formed by enriched ribs with a running vine pattern. Four hearts occupy the centre with eight arranged around the outside. In the four panels where the outer and inner hearts adjoin are four bowls of fruit in high relief: one of apples, one of oranges, one of lemons and one of pears. At the inner point of each heart is a spray of flowers, with the one towards the rear wall incorporating a human face. At the centre of the entire design is an unusual plaster pendant with four identical mens faces around it. A plaster frieze runs along the two end walls, appearing as a fragment on the front wall with a design of heraldic shields and beasts. Over the outside end wall frieze is a moulded plaster cornice.

The roof truss in this chamber consists of straight principals with a crossed apex and collar halved on with notched lap joint.

Despite its confusing plan form and complex development, the house survives in a fairly unspoilt state, retaining a traditional external appearance and a surprisingly high-quality plaster ceiling. The building forms part of an unspoilt and picturesque hamlet.