Coppice Howe Farmhouse

Coppice Howe Farmhouse

This farmhouse dates from the 17th century or earlier, with extensions added in the early 18th century. It is built of rubble slatestone, rendered, with slate roofs, and has an L-shaped plan comprising two main phases: a rectangular north range with an L-shaped west range attached to its south end.

The north range is a single storey with an inserted attic floor and roof lights, beneath a pitched roof of graduated slate. The thickened lower walls suggest the presence of a plinth. All window frames are modern casement or fixed panes. The west elevation has a single window and an entrance with a modern door; a slight widening of the wall indicates the position of the internal stair. The north gable is blind and has a corbelled-out chimney to the apex with a conical stone stack. At ground level there is a projecting, semi-circular bread oven. The east elevation has four crude window openings with stone cills; the most northerly is a fire window fitted with leaded glass and lights the inglenook.

The west range is two storeys beneath pitched roofs of graduated slate, with modern casement or fixed panes to all window frames and gable end stacks. The south elevation has a central entrance with a modern door, flanked to the left by a pair of regularly spaced window openings to both floors. To the right of the entrance is a large ground floor window with a stone cill, and a similar large offset opening to the first floor. The right gabled return is mostly blind with only a small window to both floors at the right side. The left gabled return is blind and has an attached gabled stair hall with a prominent chamfered corner. The rear elevation has scattered fenestration including a stair window.

Interior of the north range retains two full cruck-frames in their original positions, with blades springing from very low in the walls or from the ground. Each frame has a tie-beam, collar and a saddle or yoke all jointed into the south face. The southern frame has the head of the blades clasping the ridge piece, and the northern frame has the ridge piece resting on the yoke. The stone side walls and roof were raised in height in antiquity by setting the eastern purlins on large chocks supported by the crucks. The western side of the roof was raised by fixing a stout rafter to each frame to carry a repositioned purlin. In both frames, old notches for purlins suggest that the original roof was steeply pitched and probably thatched. Both crucks on the west side had windbraces rising to trenched purlins. The tie beams may have been added to support the upper floor joists when the walls and roof were raised. Between the crucks there is a substantial chamfered ceiling beam with stops and several opposing pairs of metal fixings thought likely to be for hanging cheeses or other foods. An inglenook to the north wall, modified by the insertion in 1986 of a stone fireplace, retains an arched brick-built bread oven and a spice cupboard with a panelled door and butterfly hinges in its rear wall; the inglenook is lit by a fire window in the east wall. The tie beam of the north cruck truss serves as a fire beam to the inglenook and supports the remains of a modified stone chimney hood visible to the first floor. Set parallel to the wall in the south-west corner is a timber stair supported on a single post and enclosed by a stud and plaster partition with a crude surround. Doors are modern plank and batten.

The ground floor of the west range comprises a large L-shaped space; a stub of a plank and muntin partition that formerly divided it is attached to the south end of a ceiling beam. A doorway in the north-east corner connects it to the north range and is fitted with a plank and batten door of wide boards. There are chamfered ceiling beams with stops and timber lintels to all window and cupboard openings. An inglenook to the east gable retains two plain spice cupboards with butterfly and strap hinges, and there is a window in the east wall with leaded glass and an open cupboard in the north wall. The inglenook retains its chamfered fire beam with stops. A 19th-century cast-iron range is set against the west gable. Within the stair hall to the north wall, a small timber-mullioned window is an original window through the former external west wall of the north range; there is a timber-mullioned window in the north wall. The under stairs has a boarded door with a recessed central panel and has a stone slab floor and is lit by a small window. The stair hall houses an early 18th-century timber dog-leg staircase with a decorative timber plaque recording the initials 'TAA 1702'. There is a stud and plaster partition between the two flights, and the stair has square newel posts with flat finials, a flat-topped handrail with moulded sides and turned balusters. The stud and plaster west wall of the stair hall rises to the first floor, where it forms part of a north-south stud and plaster partition incorporating a rustic timber door frame. Two bedrooms are separated from the first-floor corridor by a second stud and plaster partition incorporating similar rustic door surrounds with two-light overlights; doors are plank and batten and two-panel of short boards. There is also a similar partition between the two bedrooms. At the end of the corridor, a third bedroom is entered through a similar rustic door surround. To the left, an opening into the north range also has a crude surround fitted with a wide-boarded door that retains a nailed wooden pull handle.