Old Venn

Old Venn is a former farmhouse, likely originating in the early 16th century, with significant remodelling in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. The roof was raised in the late 18th century. It is constructed of whitewashed rendered cob and stone rubble with a thatched roof, half-hipped at the left end and gabled at the right. Brick shafts mark the end and axial stacks. The right gable end is weatherboarded.

The original plan comprised three rooms and a through passage, with the lower end on the right. The hall stack backs onto the passage, and the lower end and inner room stacks are likely 19th or 20th century additions. A single-storey rear left addition, a former outbuilding converted into domestic use, exists, alongside a 2-storey 20th-century rear centre lean-to and a single-storey rear right lean-to, probably from the 19th century.

Interior details demonstrate that the house began as an open hall, likely floored in the late 16th or early 17th century. The roof was raised in the late 18th century, leaving the original ground floor plan intact. A modern staircase has been introduced into the through passage.

The exterior features an asymmetrical four-window front with a 20th-century gabled porch supported by posts, located to the front door’s right. There are 2-, 3- and 4-light timber casement windows with glazing bars, except for a 20th-century 12-pane sash window to the left of the front door.

Inside, the wide through passage contains a massive rear door. The hall chimney stack reveals exposed granite ashlar with a hollow-chamfered cornice, a feature typical of medieval houses in the region. The hall has a large open fireplace with hollow-chamfered granite jambs, a granite lintel, a chamfered stopped crossbeam, and 18th-century timber cupboard doors fitted into a wall cupboard. The inner room to the left has a roughly chamfered crossbeam, and both the inner and lower end room fireplaces appear to be later than the 17th century.

The roof has X-apex pegged main trusses, likely dating back to the 18th century, but the rafters and battens are sooted and probably reused from the original late medieval roof. The axial stack has a granite shaft within the brick shaft, and the earlier roofline was approximately 2.5 metres below the present ridge.

This is an evolving traditional house with group value alongside the barn at the rear.