Court Farmhouse

Court Farmhouse

An L-plan building of two storeys and attic, constructed in coursed rubble incorporating substantial medieval masonry, with stone-tile roofs and stone chimney stacks.

The main west elevation has three windows and a plinth. The windows are horned 16-pane sash windows, though the masonry reveals confusing changes to the window openings: a former full-width stringcourse suggests the sills have been raised, and there are apron-like panels between the ground and first-floor windows. A central 4-panel door with overlight occupies the centre, while a 16th-century door with voussoirs is retained at the angle to the left.

The elevation at right angles to this has a single window with more dressed stone detail, incorporating one earlier jamb. The gable end to the west features a central chimney breast flanked to the right by a door with outside steps. The chamfered stone window surrounds in this location relate to what was probably the late-medieval hall of the Prior's lodging, which now appears at a different level due to internal lowering of the ceiling.

The three-window rear elevation of the cross-range faces north and shows an arcaded ground floor. Blocked openings, possibly from the early 19th century, have surviving jambs. The east gable end retains one diamond-mullioned window. The downhill south-facing gable end has two 20th-century windows.

Three gabled dormers and an added lean-to on the east side face a small courtyard, entered under a segmental-headed arch. This lean-to retains a 2-bay groin-vaulted undercroft in line with the cross-range, clearly a surviving part of the medieval west range of the cloister. This formerly continued southward; at least one respond survives.

The ground floor shows the character of late-Georgian remodelling, with 6-panel doors and an openwell staircase with reeded uprights. An older window, probably from the late 17th century, is retained within the airing cupboard at the back of the stairwell; it has an ogee-moulded mullion and transom. Another early window remains near the attic landing.

The principal architectural interest lies within the cross-range, which contains significant evidence for a grand late-medieval ceiling of considerable enrichment, indicating an important priory building, probably part of the Prior's lodging. The wall-plate and much of the ceiling framework are complete, with principal timbers (wall-plate and cross-beams) ornamented with hollow-chamfer and roll mouldings. A later partition means the late-medieval hall initially appears to be divided into three bays, but it may originally have run the full length of this range (one further bay), as similar ceiling mouldings are found immediately east of the partition. Below this, tenoned into a ceiling beam, are muntins that could represent the top of a dais partition. The roof in this range comprises three bays with pegged collared trusses and three tiers of feather-stopped purlins.

Inside the 19th-century lean-to at the rear, the former rear elevation is visible, featuring timber cross-frame windows with large dripstones. A 13th-century masonry window jamb, possibly in situ, is also present here.