Grove Farm House

Grove Farm House

A 2-storey stone building with rendered elevations, attic, and slate roof. The structure comprises a main range with an attached cross-wing to the south, and dates substantially from the mid-18th century, though the north end shows evidence of earlier origins. Large stone chimney stacks punctuate the roofline, some rebuilt in the 19th century; the distinctive lateral stack projects prominently to the front. A moulded timber eaves cornice runs below the eaves, and gabled dormers have been recently reinstated.

The long main front is dominated by the lateral chimney stack, to the right of which extends a 2-window section containing well-preserved 18th-century sashes with 12 panes and ovolo-section glazing bars, set flush into the stonework. The main entrance features a boarded door with 4-pane overlight and hood; a further entrance to the right has a modern lean-to porch. At the right end (the section with the earliest architectural evidence) sit smaller windows including one lighting the cellar. A rubble-built, slate-roofed outbuilding stands at right angles to this end.

The south-facing gable end and cross-wing form a 2-window elevation. The first-floor windows are tripartite sashes; that to the right has small panes and is slightly bowed. Below sit splayed bay windows with hipped slate roofs and sills at ground level. The west side displays paired gables, the left-hand one being broader and lit by two 12-pane sashes which light the staircase; this arrangement suggests the cross-wing may originally have been a separate cross-wing addition to the main house. Further 18th-century 12-pane sashes survive on the rear (north elevation) of the cross-wing. The north gable of the main range is built in river-pebble rubble masonry, indicating the earlier origins of this end; it retains a 12-pane sash to the first floor and an early 3-light timber-framed window below.

Interior

The interior preserves substantial mid-18th-century detail throughout. The plan is double-pile with the staircase positioned in the cross-wing. The main entrance opens onto a corridor featuring a coved ceiling and panelled dado, leading to the stair hall at the rear. To the right at the front is the kitchen, fitted with two chamfered cross beams, 6-panel doors, fielded panelled shutters, and a later dado. At the extreme north end, steps rise to the dairy, which retains oak boarded doors with strap hinges, ventilation slits, a leaded window, salting stones, and stop-chamfered beams. A single-chamber cellar lies below, covered by a segmental-arched stone vault.

Behind the kitchen is a square parlour with panelled dado. The painted chimneypiece displays typical 18th-century details: a keystone, beaded border, fluted frieze, and pilastered overmantel. Other original features include window seats and a dentilled cornice ornamented with roses. The two main rooms to the south had bay windows inserted in the late 19th century; one retains an 18th-century cornice (cut where the bay was added) but is otherwise of late 19th-century character. The adjoining rear room steps down and has boarded-panelled walls, a tall segmental-arched recess on the dividing wall, and a pilastered doorcase with segmental fanlight; it retains an 18th-century fireplace.

The staircase and flanking rooms on the first-floor landing represent the most complete survival of a fine mid-18th-century scheme. The staircase is dog-leg in plan with turned balusters, square newels, and moulded handrail. Both flanking rooms are fully panelled, with 2-panel doors. The north room has panelling in oak above the dado with raised fields and bolection-moulded cornice. The south room is unusually panelled in plaster relief (obscuring an earlier window visible from outside) with dentilled cornice; its fireplace retains a mid-18th-century cast-iron grate.

An axial corridor at the rear of the main range preserves mid-18th-century built-in cupboards. The adjoining rooms retain 2- and 3-panelled doors, stop-chamfered beams, panelled shutters, and one has a plaster cornice. The south-eastern room has a recently uncovered fireplace with chamfered timber bressumer and a Tudor-arched doorway to the left entering a closet; the stop-chamfered detail on the reverse suggests this doorway may originally have opened onto a former winding staircase. To the right of the fireplace is a squared alcove retaining traces of brightly coloured wall-painting; similar painted fragments have been uncovered elsewhere in the house.

Original roof structures are retained, featuring pegged A-frame trusses and trenched purlins. The roof over the rear range appears to be of sub-medieval date.