Farmhouse at Home Farm

Farmhouse at Home Farm

This farmhouse was built between 1830 and 1855. It is constructed of red brick in various hues laid in English bond, with a Welsh slate roof.

The building is planned as a double-pile farmhouse positioned at the south end of the farmstead, with an eastern range of attached outbuildings that were formerly used for a carriage, carts and storage.

The south pile forms the polite frontage, facing away from the farm buildings towards the garden. It comprises three gabled bays, with the central one lower and narrower, beneath wide eaves that expose the feet of the wall plates and purlins. Brick pilasters define the corners and central bay, while a horizontal band of raised brick runs across the façade at the level of the gable feet. The centrally placed double-leaf wooden door has a lower panel and two upper glazed panels beneath a segmental arched overlight, sheltered by a highly decorative cast-iron fretwork porch with slender corner columns and an architrave surmounted by brattishing. The regular fenestration consists of double-hung two-over-two pane sashes beneath segmental brick arches of double rows of headers. The windows are distinctive for their narrow margin lights at the top, bottom and sides, as well as a vertical central margin light. The one-bay left and right returns are lit by identical windows.

The plainer north pile forms the working frontage facing towards the farm buildings. It is longer than the south pile, being seven window bays wide, and has a pitched roof with raised brick eaves. The regular fenestration consists of three-over-three pane double-hung sashes beneath segmental brick arches of two rows of headers. From left to right, the apertures are arranged as follows: window, door, window, door, window, a former door replaced by a window but retaining the overlight, window. The door in the second bay has four flush panels, a three-light overlight and a bootscraper on the right-hand side. The centrally placed double-leaf door in the fourth bay has four narrow moulded panels and a three-light overlight. The first floor is lit by five windows positioned over the ground-floor windows.

Attached to the west gable end is a single-storey one-bay projection beneath a pitched roof with raised brick eaves. It is lit by a multi-pane casement with a segmental brick arch, followed by a wooden plank door with a single glazed panel. The door and its wooden canopy are not original. Attached to the east gable end is a single-storey range beneath a pitched roof with raised brick eaves. From the left it has a narrow doorway with the remains of a plank and batten door, and four wide segmental arched openings, now partly bricked up with red brick or breeze block with inserted doors or windows. This is followed by a vertical wooden plank door and a multi-pane casement window.

The interior layout is based on a cross axis running north-south and east-west which meets in the staircase hall. The former axis aligns the garden entrance of the polite frontage to the working entrance of the north frontage, and the latter axis forms a corridor providing access to the polite reception rooms flanking the staircase hall in the south pile, and the former dairy, service and farm business rooms in the north pile. The reception room on the east side and the corresponding bedroom have parallel doors in the central spine wall, connecting them to the rooms in the north pile.

The fixtures, fittings and joinery are of good quality and survive with little alteration throughout the house. The staircase hall and service range have flagstone floors whilst the polite rooms retain wooden floorboards. The windows have either horizontally sliding shutters or vertically sliding shutters (also known as sash shutters) which are housed below the window in panelled boxes. The four-panelled doors to the polite rooms have moulded panels whilst those to the service rooms have plain panels, some retaining spring latches or brass lock cases with knob handles. The doorframes, deep skirting boards with single roll moulding, and picture rails survive, some painted white and some grained. The handsome open well single-flight staircase has a closed string, turned balusters and newel posts surmounted by ball finials which continue as a balustrade around the landing. The painted timber fireplaces survive in most of the rooms, and are relatively plain although substantial in size. Those in the reception rooms are more ornate with jambs in the form of classical columns and wide mantelshelves. One fireplace retains a register grate with a round-arched opening embellished with a floral pattern and three others are known to survive behind boarding. There are original fitted cupboards in some bedrooms as well as an enamel sink and bath of probable early 20th-century date. The service rooms retain wide openings indicating the former position of ranges and many of their original fittings, including wine storage shelves, an impressive fixed pine dresser, work benches, cupboards, slender beams with hooks, and a row of service bells.

A low red brick wall with semi-circular coping of vitrified brick extends from the south-west corner of the farmhouse to enclose the garden.