Dennithorne Farmhouse And Attached Cart Shed

Dennithorne Farmhouse and Attached Cart Shed

A farmhouse with attached cart shed located in Whitchurch, comprising an early 17th-century core with significant later additions and alterations spanning from 1695 to the 20th century.

The main building is constructed of granite rubble with granite dressings, and is covered with a slate and asbestos slate roof with gable end stack to the inner room on the right and ridge stack to the right of the passage; the shippon has a corrugated iron roof and is partly rendered.

The original layout consisted of a through passage and three-room plan, with a shippon to the left, a wide passage in the centre, a hall, and an inner room to the right. The hall was heated by an axial stack that backed on to the passage, with a stair tower to its rear. The inner room was heated by a gable end stack. In 1695, a two-storey addition was made to the front of the hall, comprising a single-room plan without an apparent stack; however, it contains a squint arrangement in the wall beside the hall stack which may have provided some heating. A two-storey addition to the rear of the inner room, probably dating to the 18th century, was unheated and contained a dairy at ground floor. The shippon originally had an open passage, now divided by an inserted wall with central drain.

The passage is unusually wide and had its upper floor removed in the 20th century. The hall and inner room are of equal size, though the ceiling was raised over the hall so that the first-floor level steps down between the room over the hall and the room over the front wing.

In the mid-19th century, an open-fronted cart shed was added to the front left of the shippon, enclosing the farmyard and forming an L-plan. The main building is two storeys, with the roof level lower over the passage and shippon. The shippon has two small window openings and two central doorways with flat granite lintels, plus a loading door under the eaves. A lower two-storey cart shed is attached to the front left, with two open bays and two doors, also dating to the 19th century.

A porch to the right of the shippon has a pitched roof and a granite doorway to the passage featuring a four-centred arch that is chamfered and step-stopped with a 20th-century door.

The two-storey gabled front wing, dated 1695 to its side, has a later stack (probably 19th century) to its side. To the front are a ground and first floor three-light granite casement with hollow-chamfered mullions and dripstone (with 20th-century glazing), and four mounting steps. To the right, the next bay of the hall is slightly advanced from the main range; at ground floor it has a nine-pane light with brick segmental head and at first floor a 12-pane 19th-century sash. The end bay to the right has a ground floor 12-pane sash with brick segmental head and a first floor 20th-century light under the eaves.

The gable end to the right has an external stack serving the inner room. The two-storey rear addition has a two-light casement at ground floor with segmental head; this side is rendered. The gable end of the shippon to the left has a drain, a low-set ventilation opening with cambered granite lintel and a 20th-century single-pane light above. The rear of the cart shed, projecting beyond the shippon end, has a doorway with granite lintel, two unglazed ventilation openings, and a drain to the left.

The rear of the shippon is buttressed to the right and has two roof lights. A single-storey lean-to extends along the rear, also enclosing the rear passage door, and has a door and two 20th-century lights. This lean-to is positioned in the angle to the stair tower, which has a pitched roof and a small single granite light with hollow-chamfered detailing at upper level. A two-storey addition to the left, parallel to the main range, has a door and three-pane light to its side, and a two-light casement at first floor rear.

Internally, the passage is unusually wide and formerly had ovens projecting from the rear of the hall stack; one truss remains with side-pegged cambered collar and principal rafters. The inner side of the extended hall wing has quoins and a blocked squint which may have conducted heat from the rear of the axial stack. The hall has a rear doorway to the stair tower with a wooden chamfered and run-out stopped frame with segmental head, leading to a granite newel stair. The inner room has a fireplace with a large flat granite lintel and a timber lintel remaining in the rear wall from an unexplained opening.

The building has undergone 19th-century alterations including changes to windows, and various 20th-century alterations.