St Marys Farm

St Mary's Farm is a farmhouse built between approximately 1820 and 1833, located in Chalford. It is notable for its unusually canted main elevation decorated with Gothic detailing.

The building is constructed of squared, coursed limestone, except for the main elevation which is finished in limestone ashlar. The roof is hipped and slate-covered, with a central brick stack.

The plan consists of a single bay, canted to the main elevation, with a double-depth layout. The main north-western elevation features carved limestone Tudor Gothic arches to the ground floor, and pointed arches with Decorated tracery to the first floor. The tripartite Tudor Gothic window at the front of the canted bay has had its central section converted from an original doorway. The rear (south-eastern) and one side (north-eastern) elevations have paired lancet windows with dressed limestone surrounds. The only current entrance door is located in the north-eastern elevation within an original opening with a massive stone lintel. The south-western side has square-headed openings with dressed limestone surrounds and stone sills. A modern open-sided single-storey lean-to of breezeblock construction with a corrugated metal roof has been added to the rear.

Internally, the ground floor comprises an entrance hall and two rooms, each with 19th-century stone-built fireplaces. The main living room has floorboards over limestone flags, while the rear kitchen has limestone flags. Stairs to the first floor lead from the entrance hall. The front room has been subdivided into a bathroom and bedroom, with a second bedroom to the rear.

St Mary's Farm was part of the estate of St Mary's House (listed grade II*), which it faces across the Golden Valley. St Mary's House dates from approximately 1710 and earlier, and by the late 18th century was associated with the adjacent St Mary's Mill (listed grade II). In the 1820s, the owner Samuel Clutterbuck undertook extensive remodelling of St Mary's House and its interior, wealth from the textile industry enabling these improvements. At the same time, a modest designed landscape was laid out across the valley rising from the house and mill up the slope towards St Mary's Farm. The farmhouse's unusual alignment, with its decorative front facing obliquely away from the road directly towards the principal rooms of St Mary's House, suggests it was built or remodelled as part of this scheme, probably to function as an eyecatcher for St Mary's House with an avenue of trees leading the eye up the Golden Valley. The farm is mentioned in Samuel Clutterbuck's will and in sale particulars dating to around 1833, confirming the farmhouse's current form dates from 1820–1833.