5, Pirnhow Street

This is a brick farmhouse, built around 1700. It is located in Broome and is a building of group value, contributing to the area’s character.

The house is constructed of brick in a Flemish bond pattern, with a pantile roof and has gable-end chimneys. The plan is a simple single-room depth, with gabled extensions to the rear (northeast and southwest). The northeast extension dates to the 18th century, while the southwest extension is larger and contains a kitchen, with a later lean-to addition for a dairy and laundry.

The front facade is symmetrical, with three bays and a central doorway sheltered by a decorative, horizontally moulded brick hood. Replacement metal windows are set within the original window openings. The ground floor windows are positioned beneath skewback arches with cambered soffits, while the upper floor windows have flat brick lintels laid horizontally. The gables feature plain brick stacks with string courses at the top and bottom, as well as moulded brick kneelers and short piers rising from them. A small original window opening is present in the gables, illuminating the attic space. The rear of the house is plain brick with no openings in the main section. The two single-storey gabled extensions feature a tumbled gable and blocked window opening in the northern one, and a small lean-to extension, a south-facing door, and a window in the side wall of the southern one. A small lean-to passage connects the two extensions.

The original panelled front door opens into a hall with a large hearth and original bressumer beam. To the left is a parlour with an eared chimney piece and a 19th-century brick floor laid in a chevron pattern. The staircase is not in its original location, having been moved from beside the hall chimney stack to the south extension. The first floor was originally divided into two rooms, with a 19th-century fireplace in the north chimney. A staircase rises from the south extension to the attic. Original plank doors with latches remain throughout. The original roof retains staggered butt purlins, a ridge piece, and collars, although the original mortised and tenoned collars have been replaced with nailed collars set slightly higher. The rear extension includes a kitchen with a cast-iron range and a dairy/laundry with shelving over brick arches.

The house has remained largely unaltered externally since its construction. Original casement windows have been replaced with metal ones, but within the original openings. The roof is original, but the collars have been replaced at a slightly higher level. An 18th-century extension was added, followed by a 19th-century extension to move the kitchen from the main house, and subsequently a lean-to to create a dairy.

The property is an unspoilt farmhouse dating back to around 1700, situated alongside its similarly unspoilt barn of the same date. Both the house and barn are of notably high-quality workmanship and together represent a rare survival of a small farmstead from the early 18th century.