Corfe Farmhouse And Attached Barn

Corfe Farmhouse and Attached Barn

Corfe Farmhouse is a one and a half storey house built of rubble stone walls of Blue Lias with a slate roof and twentieth-century brick chimney stacks. The fenestration comprises mostly nineteenth-century replacement timber casements, although several seventeenth-century mullioned windows survive. The house has a rectangular plan of largely single depth with an attached barn at right angles to the north end. A two-storey, single-bay addition was made to the north end during the nineteenth century, and further later additions exist at the rear. Other farm buildings to the east and south-east are either later in date or have undergone alteration and are not of special interest.

The principal elevation faces west towards the road. The asymmetrical front façade consists of four bays and was re-fenestrated during the nineteenth century. A gabled nineteenth-century addition projects slightly at the north end and contains a canted bay to the ground floor with a three-light casement and stone drip mould above, with a narrow unglazed light in the apex. To the left of the slightly off-centre entrance is a three-light casement window; two matching casements lie to the right. A half-glazed porch frames the entrance. At first-floor level are four similar windows. A stone lintel in bay four probably marks a former stair light position. The south gable wall is rendered and partly obscured at ground floor by a twentieth-century lean-to conservatory. A doorway opens into the house, and towards the south-east corner is a two-light flat mullioned window that may date from the seventeenth century, though its original position is unclear. Two window openings exist at first-floor level on this wall.

The rear (east) elevation contains an extension with catslide roof to its left-hand bay, housing a four-light ovolo mullioned window that has been re-sited. To the right is a further lean-to addition with twentieth-century window openings and a doorway. Beyond is a nineteenth-century casement window, with a further doorway and twentieth-century window opening above, positioned within the angle formed by the north-east corner of the house and the south-west end of the attached barn.

The attached barn is considered to date from the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century with a later addition and alterations. It is built of random Blue Lias stone with slate roof covering and a ventilation hood to the ridge. It appears to have been constructed in two phases, the western half being earlier with opposing doors in the north and south elevations. The south entrance has a twentieth-century concrete lintel and metal sliding door. To the right are several slit-vent openings and an opening with a timber stable door. A straight vertical joint in the masonry to the right of this doorway, and in the opposing elevation, suggests the barn was extended eastwards by two bays. Both north and south elevations in this section have a round-headed doorway—that in the north wall is blocked—together with several ground and first-floor openings. Straight joints towards the east gable end in both north and south elevations suggest the gable wall has been rebuilt. The west end of the barn's north side was altered in the twentieth century with insertion of a doorway and bay window to create a retail unit.

Interior of the Farmhouse

The front entrance has a moulded door surround with decorative stops to the jambs and a half-glazed timber door leading into a through passage. A seventeenth-century flat-headed doorway with run-out stops to the jambs in the north wall gives access to the central room. This room has a chamfered ceiling beam with scroll end stops. Although the inglenook fireplace has been blocked and replaced with a twentieth-century fireplace, the original hearth survives visible within a cupboard inserted into the breast. The southern room or parlour has a deeply chamfered ceiling beam and moulded plasterwork to the cornices. Here too the large open hearth has been infilled, and the former winder stairs in the north-west corner has been replaced in the late twentieth century with a lift. The rear extension contains a kitchen and scullery. The room to the left of the passage, probably the former service end, contains a large blocked hearth. The ceiling beams here are deeply chamfered without end stops and it is unclear whether they are original. The room has been reduced in size to create a corridor providing access to the nineteenth-century addition and housing the staircase. This later addition has deep cornices and a twentieth-century fireplace. A nineteenth-century stick baluster staircase with turned newel posts leads to a first-floor corridor running the length of the house. The bedrooms are located along the front. The roof consists largely of nineteenth-century timbers with some later strengthening.

Interior of the Barn

The western end of the barn was originally open to the roof, though partly enclosed when converted to a retail unit. The remainder is two-storey comprising two stalls. The ceiling above these stalls has scissor bracing to the joists. The roof, though not inspected, is understood to comprise king post trusses.

Other Agricultural Buildings

The farm includes a single range of outbuildings at right angles to the south end of the house, a two-storey barn or cow shed with hay loft above built of stone and brick, and a number of twentieth-century Dutch barns. All have undergone alteration and are not of special interest.