Snape Farmhouse

Snape Farmhouse is a house dating probably from the 16th century, with an addition from the early to mid 17th century, and probable alterations and a minor addition from the mid to late 19th century. It has been partly demolished, altered and enlarged in the mid to late 20th century. The walls are rendered cob on a stone rubble plinth. The roof is thatched with a lean-to section of Welsh slate, and there are stone lateral and end stacks with rendered and later brick shafts.

Originally, the house was built around a three-room and through/cross passage plan, facing south, with the ground sloping to the right. The hall may have originally been open to the roof, with an integral lateral stack to the front, likely inserted in the 17th century. A former through or cross passage was located to the right of the hall, leading to a room with an external end stack. A former service room to the right of the passage was demolished in the late 20th century. A kitchen wing, dating from the early to mid 17th century, was added to the rear of the hall, with its own external end stack. A mid to late 19th-century outshut, probably originally a dairy, was added to the rear of the left end of the house, forming an angle with the rear wing. A staircase was inserted into the passage, probably in the late 19th century, and the present staircase dates to that period. Remains of a former lower (service) room to the right of the passage include what may have been a former one-storey lean-to porch to the front, although this could also be an outshut. A flat-roofed addition was built at the rear of the right-hand end of the house in the late 20th century.

The front of the house appears nearly symmetrical, with an integral lateral stack and three windows to the first floor. The upper floor windows are a pair of late 19th-century three-light casements to the right and a large late 20th-century three-light wooden casement to the left. The ground floor has a late 19th-century three-light hall window and a large late 20th-century three-light wooden casement to the left. The recessed passage doorway has a late 18th or early 19th-century door with six raised and fielded panels (the top two glazed) and a wooden frame.

The rear wing has a large stone end stack with weatherings, chamfered offsets to the later brick shaft, and a projecting rounded bread oven at the base. Inside, the hall has a 17th-century open fireplace with stone jambs, a wooden lintel and a blocked bread oven. The left-hand ground-floor room has a smaller stone fireplace with a wooden lintel. The ground-floor room in the rear wing (the kitchen) has a 17th-century open fireplace with stone jambs, a chamfered wooden lintel with ogee stops and two bread ovens. The roof space was ceiled and inaccessible at the time of inspection in December 1987. The house is part of a small farmstead group that includes a large barn to the south-west.