Langstone Farmhouse

Langstone Farmhouse is a farmhouse of probably late 16th-century origin, substantially remodelled in the early 19th century. It is built of rendered granite rubble with some dressed granite detail, and is roofed with 20th-century interlocking tiles, hipped at the right higher end and gabled at the lower end. The building features axial and gable end stacks with later brick shafts, except for the stack to the wing which is of rubble with granite capping.

The house follows a 3-room and through passage plan with a rear parlour wing at right angles to the higher end, possibly original. An axial stack heats the hall, which backs onto the through passage. A lower gable end stack, possibly inserted, and a gable end stack heating the parlour wing complete the heating arrangements. The lower room originally had separate external access to the rear by a granite arched doorway. A cellar lies beneath the lower end. In the early 19th century the through passage was widened on its lower side and a staircase inserted there. The lower service room was remodelled into a parlour, the inner room became a buttery and dairy, and the original parlour became a kitchen.

The house is 2 storeys with a regular 4-window front of 2 and 3 light casements, probably early 19th-century frames with replaced lights. The dairy window to the ground floor right, in the former inner room, has thin timber square section mullions with iron stanchion bars. The through passage doorway to the left of centre is enclosed by a 19th-century rendered gabled porch with a 4-centred arched opening, within which sits the original granite doorway comprising a 4-centred arch with ogee chamfer and cushion stops. An identical doorway stands at the opposite end of the passage at the rear. The rear facade also displays a 4-centred granite arched doorway to the lower room, now blocked. At the right-hand lower gable end is a doorway to the cellar.

The parlour wing projects from the upper end. On the left-hand side of its gable stack are 2 blocked stone mullioned windows, one to ground floor and one to first floor. Both are 3-light with a hoodmould, their frame and mullions appearing to be chamfered. A chamfered dressed stone plinth runs along the base of the gable end. A subsidiary projecting stack to the wing cuts across part of the mullioned windows. A ground floor doorway and probably early 19th-century first floor casement window serve the inner face of the wing. The outer face of the parlour wing sits on a different plane to the upper gable end of the main range. A further extension to the wing, possibly a granary on the evidence of its external stone steps to first floor, projects beyond this. A 20th-century lean-to addition stands at the back of the main range.

The interior contains several fine features of different periods. The hall features a large open granite fireplace with a very substantial lintel of hollow chamfer and jambs each of a single piece of unchamfered granite; one jamb cuts across the chamfer of the lintel, possibly suggesting that the jambs are replacements. A 3-centred arched granite opening to an oven stands on the left side of the fireplace. The kitchen, which was formerly the parlour, is reputed to have an original open fireplace surviving, now concealed behind a Rayburn. A chamfered cross beam with a butt stop at one end, possibly meant to be unstopped, is present in the kitchen.

The principal staircase in the through passage is of simple open-well form with turned newels and squared balustrades. The lower room has a panelled surround to the window, moulded cornice, and a 4-panelled door. These features, together with the staircase, suggest a rearrangement and remodelling of the house circa 1820–30. The secondary staircase continues up into the roof-space, implying that there might once have been garret accommodation. A fielded 2-panel door survives intact on the first floor, with another in a somewhat altered state. The roof is a 20th-century replacement.

Langstone is mentioned as a Domesday Manor and was inhabited by the Heyward family for about 300 years from the late 16th century. The existing structure of the house probably dates from this period and was built as a good quality gentry residence. The house has undergone an interesting evolution of plan internally, particularly in the early 19th century, as room use was changed: the service room was upgraded into a parlour, while the parlour wing and inner room were downgraded to kitchen and dairy respectively.