Rookery Farmhouse

Rookery Farmhouse is an early 19th-century farmhouse situated on Bridge Road in Stoke Bruerne. The building is constructed of coursed squared limestone with a hipped slate roof and brick internal stacks. It follows a double-depth plan and is arranged over three floors, with a three-window front. A central part-glazed door is situated within an open porch supported by thin cast-iron pillars. The porch’s timber superstructure features semi-circular arches to the front and sides, a frieze, and a moulded cornice. The windows are 12-pane sash windows with flat arched stone heads and keyblocks on all three floors. Moulded stone eaves and lead rainwater heads and pipes are also present.

Inside, a central staircase rises from the ground floor to the attic, featuring stick balusters and a mahogany ramped and wreathed handrail, and a stone-paved floor. Front and back doors at either end of the staircase hall have shutters that fold back to create a Venetian window effect with a wooden surround. The principal rooms have reeded doorcases; that to the sitting room is adorned with lion's head masks at the angles. Ornamental plasterwork borders the ceilings of the principal ground floor rooms, and marble chimney pieces are also present. The farmhouse was originally part of the Grafton estate.