Old Greenhouse Farm, Little Greenhouse, Stable Block (Including Nos. 1 And 2 Greenhouse Mews) And Coach House

Old Greenhouse Farm, Little Greenhouse, Stable Block (Including Nos. 1 and 2 Greenhouse Mews) and Coach House

This is a group of buildings comprising a late 17th-century house, possibly with an earlier range, extended and altered in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, along with an 18th-century stable block, a 19th-century house and a 19th-century coach house.

Old Greenhouse Farm, Little Greenhouse and the stable block are all constructed from limestone ashlar with stone slate roofs to Old Greenhouse Farm, tile to Little Greenhouse and concrete tiles to the stable. The coach house is of limestone rubble with a tile roof.

The complex of buildings consists of Old Greenhouse Farm, an L-shaped house fronting Greenhouse Lane, with a stable yard to the east, enclosed on its northern side by a stable block and coach house. Adjoining the northern end of the right-hand wing of Old Greenhouse Farm is a separate dwelling known as Little Greenhouse. The buildings are situated on the east side of Greenhouse Lane with Old Greenhouse Farm accessed by way of Greenhouse Lane and Little Greenhouse and the entrance to the stable yard accessed via a small lane running north-east to south-west, at a right angle to Greenhouse Lane.

Old Greenhouse Farm

Old Greenhouse Farm is a late 17th-century house, possibly with an earlier range to left, with alterations and extensions of the early 18th century, 19th century and late 20th century. Constructed from limestone ashlar with stone slate roofs, the house is of an L-shaped plan with a late 17th-century wing to the right, its gable end facing the road, and an earlier wing, probably a separate dwelling, at right angles to the left; the two were joined to create a single house in the 19th or 20th century.

The principal elevation of the late 17th-century wing is of two storeys plus attic in two bays. To the ground and first floor there are three-light recessed chamfer stone mullioned casements; those to the first floor under stopped hoods and those to the ground floor under a continuous moulded stringcourse. To the attic there are two three-light hipped dormers. At the centre of the ground floor there is a coped gabled porch with a four-centred arched doorway over which is a 19th-century shield. The right gabled return has a large external stack with paired chimneys and is flanked at each level by single light casement windows with glazing bars and stopped hoods. To the rear elevation there is a gabled projecting stair tower with a square, four-light recessed cross-window with leading and stopped hoods. Adjoining this, to the right, there is a two-storey 19th-century gabled extension with a four-light recessed chamfered stone mullioned casement with leading and stopped hoods to the ground floor and a two-light recessed chamfer stone mullioned casement with leading to the first floor. Projecting at right angles from this is a two-storey extension built in the 1960s from reconstructed stone.

The left-hand, earlier wing is of two storeys with three two-light recessed chamfer stone mullioned casements to the ground floor under a continuous stopped hoodmould; the hoodmould is raised at the centre, indicating the existence of a former doorway. To the first floor there are two two-light chamfer stone mullion casements with leading, some with pointed heads.

The interior of the house contains late 17th-century stop-chamfered ceiling beams and, to the stair tower, a late 17th-century closed-string staircase with moulded handrail, fluted newel post with moulded top-cap and square fluted balusters. Also surviving from this date is a bolection moulded stone fireplace surround with square-headed opening, square jambs and stone hearth. The early 18th-century alterations included the application of egg and dart moulded cornices to some rooms.

Stable Block

The stable block was built in the 18th century and is constructed from limestone ashlar with a concrete tile roof. Its south-east (stable yard) elevation is of two storeys plus attic in three bays. The central bay contains a raised, stepped and coped gable with kneelers and a small oculus window. Below this, to the first floor, there is an arched loading door to the hayloft with radial fanlights; below this, to the ground floor, there is a deep-set arched doorway with wooden double-doors and radial fanlight. On either side of the doorway, the end bays contain two-light mullioned casements with horizontal glazing bars and to the first floor there are lunette windows, that to the left having been lengthened. The north-west elevation, which fronts the narrow lane giving access to Greenhouse Lane, is of two storeys plus cellar in three bays. In the end bays of the ground floor, accessed via a flight of stone steps with iron railing, there are wooden plank and batten doors and lunette windows. In the central bay there is a two-light mullioned casement with horizontal glazing bars. To the upper storey, the middle and left hand end bay contain paired iron-framed casement windows whilst the right-hand end bay contains a rectangular three-light iron-framed casement window. The interior contains four loose boxes, two on each side, with doors and partition walls of tongue and grooved boarding with iron capping. At the far end, opposite the doorway, there is a tack room with fireplace and tongue and groove boarded walls with wooden harness brackets. The upper floors of the rear section were divided into two flats in the 20th century and are accessed via the doorways in the elevation fronting the access lane.

Little Greenhouse

Little Greenhouse is a 19th-century dwelling, constructed from limestone ashlar with a tile roof; the roofline continues over the attached coach house. It is of two storeys plus attic in four bays with an off-centre recessed porch with a peak-headed arched opening. On either side of the doorway there are three-light recessed chamfer stone mullion casements under stopped hoods; the bay at the right hand end is blind. To the first floor there are two three-light recessed chamfer stone mullioned windows and two blind single light window openings. The right gabled return contains paired lancet windows to the first floor and a single-light casement under stopped hoods to the attic. Internally, a blocked ground-floor doorway is evidence of the two houses being in single occupancy at one time.

Coach House

The coach house is a single-storey building erected in the 19th century from coursed limestone rubble with a tile roof; the roof is continuous with Little Greenhouse. Accessed via the stable yard, it has a large arched coach opening, now with 20th-century wooden garage doors. The rear elevation to the access lane is blind.

Historical Development

Old Greenhouse Farm, formerly known as Greenhouse Lodge, and its associated subsidiary buildings have a complex building history. The principal dwelling consists of an L-shaped house with a late 17th-century range to the right and a possible earlier range at right angles, to the left. This was probably a separate dwelling that was integrated into the late 17th-century range in the 19th or 20th century to create a single dwelling. The late 17th-century range, itself, was altered and extended in the early 18th century, 19th century and late 20th century. In the 18th century a detached stable block was built to the north-east of the house and in the 19th century the gap between the stable block and left hand wing of Old Greenhouse Farm was infilled with a long rectangular building consisting of, under a single roofline, a coach house and a separate dwelling, known as Little Greenhouse.