Farmhouse, stables, piggery, bank barn, shippon and linhay at Great Nurcott Farm

Great Nurcott Farm comprises a farmhouse and a complex of agricultural buildings set in a rural location. The farmhouse dates from at least the mid-17th century and has been altered and extended over successive periods. The accompanying farm buildings—a stable range, bank barn, shippon, linhay, and former piggery—were constructed in the 18th or early 19th century and have also undergone later modifications, including some partial rebuilding.

The buildings are constructed from local Morte slatestone rubble. The farmhouse walls are rendered, while the farm buildings retain exposed rubble stonework. Roofs are covered variously in slate and fibre-cement sheeting.

The farmhouse has a U-shaped plan formed by a front range with two rear wings projecting at right angles, between which sits a single-storey outshut. A single-storey ancillary range is attached to the east side. To the rear (north) lies a small enclosed yard, beyond which stand the stables. The other farm buildings are set slightly apart, to the east of the house, loosely arranged in a linear plan alongside a narrow yard. Modern agricultural sheds lie to the north and south of this group.

The Farmhouse

The house is of two storeys with a south-facing front range of three bays. A gable end stack rises to the left and a rear stack sits below the ridge at the right-hand end. At the centre is a gabled entrance porch of two storeys, housing 20th-century paired glazed doors beneath a segmental lintel and a window at first-floor level. The inner doorway has a timber surround with ovolo mouldings; the plank door is fitted with strap hinges and nails arranged in a linear pattern. The windows on the front elevation have been replaced with double-glazed uPVC casements, except for the window in the side wall of the porch. The east gable end contains a two-light mullioned window with metal casements, a vertical sliding catch, and iron bars at first-floor level. At the north-east corner, the roof profile kicks out, possibly marking the position of a former curing chamber.

A single-storey ancillary range projects at right angles from the east side. It has a doorway at either end of the north elevation and two windows between them, all beneath timber lintels. A small drain hole is set low in its gable wall. The east rear wing is of two bays, fitted with 20th-century timber casements and a large external stack on its north gable wall. A second stack was added to the right return in the 20th century. A single-storey outshut clasps the rear of the principal range between the two wings.

The two-bay west wing is possibly of two phases and is unheated. It has a wide plank door set to the right of centre and timber windows: three lights at ground-floor level and two and three lights at first-floor level. The ground-floor openings have wooden lintels. An inserted taking-in door appears in the north gable wall. The west elevation contains a ground-floor window in the wing and two windows in the gable wall of the front range.

Inside, the front range has a two-room, through-passage plan. The passage, now forming an inner hall, houses a mid-20th-century staircase. The introduction of an extra doorway towards its south end, probably in the 19th century, created a small entrance hall from which the principal rooms on either side of the passage are accessed. Both rooms contain a transverse ceiling beam with deep chamfers and stepped stops, and chamfered beams in the end walls and the walls alongside the passage. The existing fireplaces appear to have been formed by infilling the original inglenooks and are flanked by fitted cupboards.

A cupboard in the sitting room (right) has a door of wide planks with 18th- or early 19th-century L-hinges and contains a stone winder staircase, although the lower step has been removed. At the top of the stairs, in the bedroom above, is a matching door. A late 19th-century four-panelled door in the back wall of the sitting room leads into the east wing, which has a large inglenook fireplace with a bread oven, a later timber fire surround, and a small window in its east wall. Transverse ceiling beams have no stops. Within the rear outshut is a hallway with a mid-20th-century staircase and a second room fitted with 20th-century slate shelves supported on brick piers.

The west wing, accessed from a raised doorway with a 19th-century plank door, has fallen into disrepair. It has a cobbled floor, and both ground and first floors are divided into two rooms by a stone partition wall. The ceiling beam in the first ground-floor room is identical to those in the front range, with deep chamfers and stepped stops; the beam in the second room has a more slender profile and lacks stops. Within the south wall is a plank and batten door in a pegged surround that formerly led through to the front range, though the opposite side of the opening in the left-hand room of the front range has been blocked.

The single-storey ancillary range, accessed from the east wing, has a slightly sloping floor and 20th-century roof timbers. Upstairs, the bedrooms in the front range are accessed from a corridor. In the north-west bedroom is a doorway into the first floor of the west wing, with a pegged timber surround displaying plain chamfers and stops. The roof to the front range (partially viewed in 2017) is formed from pegged principal rafters and single purlins, with additional 20th-century timbers. The west wing has a pegged and collared principal rafter at the junction with the front range, and common rafters and single purlins to the rest of the roof. The roof of the east wing was not inspected in 2017.

The Stable Range

To the north of the farmhouse stands the stable range, a rectangular stone building of four bays and one and a half storeys to all but its west end. It has a stone plinth and a pitched slate roof. The east gable end has a ground-floor entrance and a hayloft doorway above, each with plank doors and brick lintels. The rear elevation has three timber windows in flat-headed openings with internal wooden shutters. The south elevation has a single 20th-century timber window and an entrance at the left (west) end, along with several blocked openings beneath timber lintels.

Inside, the stable range is divided into two parts. The larger east part contains loose boxes with wooden stall partitions, probably 20th century, and the floor to the loft is supported on cross-beams and is boarded. The loft was not inspected. There is a separate single stable in the west end bay with an axial beam and rafters to one half.

The Former Piggery

The probable former piggery is a single-storey structure built into the slope. It has been adapted and currently (2017) serves as a workshop or garage. It is built of random stone rubble with a slate roof of late 20th-century date. A wide vehicular opening has been inserted in the north wall, while the opposing south gabled end has a small, low-level drain hole at the far left end, a single window beneath a stone lintel in the apex of the gable, and a blocked opening below and to the right of this window. The west elevation has three infilled narrow openings beneath stone voussoirs, and the east elevation is blind.

Inside, the floor appears to have been built up and is laid with concrete. The roof is supported by a tie beam truss, and the single purlins and rafters are modern.

The Bank Barn

The bank barn faces onto the yard, providing accommodation for livestock at ground level. On the first floor is a former threshing barn with ground-level access at the rear. Multi-functional, split-level barns such as this were increasingly adopted from the late 18th century following the introduction of machine threshing. The building, of five narrow bays, is constructed of stone rubble with a stone plinth in places, and a pitched roof covered in corrugated sheeting.

The south elevation has three irregularly spaced, flat-arched doorways to the ground floor and a central taking-in door with a segmental head at first-floor level; this has been partly infilled to narrow the opening. To the right-hand end is a blocked, lower opening. The rear entrance has a timber sliding door, and there is a further doorway to the left-hand bay which may be a later insertion. The ruined walls of the wheelpit survive at the north-east corner of the building, but the waterwheel is not extant.

Inside, the ground floor provided fully enclosed housing for livestock, and transverse chamfered beams support the upper floor. This is accessed from the rear (north) and has a central threshing floor. The roof is supported by late 18th-century tie beam trusses with later angled struts. Some of the original purlins remain, reinforced with modern timbers. Supported by some of the roof timbers is a system of cast-iron line shafting and belt-drive wheels, probably dating from the later part of the 19th century.

The Shippon and Linhay

East of, and adjoining the bank barn, is a long, rectangular, single-storey range orientated west to east, comprising a shippon and an adjoining linhay. It originally combined enclosed and open-sided accommodation for cattle and has been rebuilt at its west end. The range has stone rubble walls, rendered to the rebuilt part, beneath a gable-ended roof clad in corrugated sheeting.

To the front (south), facing onto the yard, is a raised doorway and large opening in the rebuilt west end, and four regularly spaced narrow doorways with timber lintels to the original part of the shippon. The open-fronted side (south) of the linhay has circular rubble piers supporting the roof, and the openings have been largely infilled with blockwork and timber.

Inside, the floors are cobbled, and the internal space has been divided into stalls with timber partitions in the 20th century. The pegged roof trusses are formed from tie beams, principal rafters, and queen struts. The single purlins, some of which are modern, rest on the principals.