Strapp Farmhouse, Granary Cottage, Barn Cottage and Old Hay Barn

This farmhouse dates from the late 16th century and was substantially remodelled in the mid-17th century, with further alterations in the late 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. Attached to it are former agricultural ranges from the 17th and 18th centuries, converted to three dwellings (Granary Cottage, Barn Cottage and Old Hay Barn) in the late 20th century.

Materials

Strapp Farmhouse and Granary Cottage are constructed of cut and squared Hamstone and Hamstone and limestone rubble with ashlar dressings. The pitched roofs were originally thatched and are now covered mostly with double Roman clay tiles, though one bay and the rear outbuilding have Welsh slates. There are high stepped coped gables and brick chimney stacks. Barn Cottage and Old Hay Barn to the left are built of rubble Hamstone brought to course, with slate covering to the front pitch of the roof and plain tiles to the rear. The western end has a stepped coped gable and a late 20th-century brick stack.

Plan

The buildings are arranged linearly as attached rectangular structures, orientated north-east to south-west. From east to west they comprise the farmhouse, a former cider house (Granary Cottage), and a former mixing house and barn (Barn Cottage and Old Hay Barn). The farmhouse has a two-room cross-passage plan with two rear wings of one bay and an attached single-storey outbuilding also to the rear. Granary Cottage is a two-storey building of three bays. Abutting its west gable end is a five-bay building of one phase of construction, converted to Barn Cottage and Old Hay Barn in the late 20th century.

Strapp Farmhouse and Granary Cottage

Exterior

The building has two storeys, except for the eastern rear wing which has one-and-a-half storeys under a catslide roof, and the single-storey outbuilding attached to this. The front elevation contains, from right to left at ground-floor level, two flat-headed, hollow-chamfered mullioned stone windows of two lights with labels, followed by a recessed entrance with a triangular-headed door surround featuring ogee-step hollow mouldings, decorated spandrels inscribed with the initials GA to the left and the date 1576 to the right, and a boarded door with strap hinges. To the left of the doorway is an 18th-century three-light window with wooden frame, iron casements, leaded panes and a wrought-iron quadrant curl stay. Further left is a two-light timber casement and an inserted entrance with a late 20th-century timber door, both under concrete lintels. The left-hand bay has a three-light window in a Hamstone surround with hollow-chamfered mullions and labels. On the first floor are two 19th or 20th-century casement windows, each with a single toplight, and three 18th-century three-light windows with wooden frames, iron casements, leaded panes and wrought-iron quadrant curl stays.

The right (east) return is built of stone rubble and contains an ovolo-moulded single-light stair window with a dripmould set high in the wall, and a multi-paned casement window under a segmental brick lintel to both the ground and upper floors. Scars in the masonry at ground-floor level may mark the position of an earlier oven which has been removed. Most of the windows in the rear elevation are late 20th-century timber casements under lintels of either timber or concrete. There is one 19th-century three-light casement. In the two-storey wing, which has stepped coped gables and a rebuilt brick stack, is a stone-mullioned ground-floor window which has been partially infilled and contains an inserted 20th-century window, and a hollow-chamfered mullioned window of two lights with labels to the first floor. To the right of the wing is a plank door with moulded fillets and nails in a square-headed surround. High in the west gable wall (of Granary Cottage) is a small oculus.

Interior

Strapp Farmhouse has a central passage. The room to the left has a fireplace, much reduced in size, with a Hamstone surround with bead moulding to the jambs and lintel. The recess on either side of the fireplace has fitted shelves and cupboards with doors featuring raised and fielded panels. An opening in the north-west corner of the room which previously led through to the former cider cellar (Granary Cottage) has been infilled. There is a corresponding infilled opening, used as a cupboard, in the room above. The right-hand principal room has exposed ceiling beams with deep flat chamfers and cyma stops. The large fireplace has been mostly infilled, but a historic building report (Dallimore, 1991) indicates it had an oven and a curing chamber. A corridor has been created from the rear part of this room. It contains the staircase and provides access to the rear wings. The two-storey wing has a corner fireplace (infilled) at ground and first-floor levels.

The roof of Strapp Farmhouse was not inspected (2019) but is understood to date principally from the late 18th century, although some earlier trusses are present in the eastern half of the building and in the two-storey wing. The interior of Granary Cottage has late 20th-century partition walls and joinery. It has A-frame roof trusses with collars and two rows of staggered butt purlins. The rafters are late 20th century and the trusses have been strengthened with steel tie beams.

Barn Cottage and Old Hay Barn

Exterior

The windows and doors are late 20th and early 21st century and within inserted openings, with concrete lintels to the ground-floor openings. The windows in the front elevation have timber frames and those to the rear are of uPVC. The front elevation of Barn Cottage has a three-light casement and a half-glazed timber door with a small adjoining window to the ground floor, and two gabled dormers, each with a two-light casement window, to the first floor. Old Hay Barn has a similar arrangement, though with two casement windows and a boarded door with adjoining window to the ground floor and three dormers above. The west gable end has an inserted window to both the ground and first floors. To the right of the first-floor window there is evidence of a taking-in door which has been infilled, and set high in the gable is a small circular opening. The rear elevation has, to the left-hand half (Barn Cottage), two ground-floor windows and a uPVC door to the ground floor and two dormer windows. The right-hand half (Old Hay Barn) has a late 20th-century conservatory-style extension, an early 21st-century addition and two dormers. There is some evidence of earlier blocked openings to this elevation.

Interior

The internal partitions are late 20th century, as are the staircases, doors and skirting boards. On the ground floors are substantial 18th-century ceiling beams with shallow chamfers and slots cut into them for floor joists; those to Barn Cottage support late 20th-century joists. Set within the east gable wall of Barn Cottage and visible internally at the top of the stairs is a splayed opening, possibly a ventilation slot, which has been infilled. The 18th-century roof structure also survives, consisting of A-frame principals carried on timber pads and single rows of staggered butt purlins, although some purlins have been replaced in the late 20th century. The original roof timbers are pegged and the trusses are dovetailed at their apex. They have been reinforced with modern tie beams of steel (Barn Cottage) and timber (Old Hay Barn). The rafters are late 20th-century replacements.

The single-storey extension to Old Hay Barn, the lean-to addition to Granary Cottage and the garage built against the rear single-storey range of Strapp Farmhouse are not of special interest and are excluded from the listing.