Sarn

Sarn is a long two-storey house resulting from extensions to and remodelling of a core that probably dates from the 16th century. It is built of coursed sandstone rubble with stone quoins and red brick dressings, a blue slate roof, and stone chimneys with red brick terminals.

The east front is irregular with seven windows and rises to a tall gable at the centre, creating a tripartite effect that disguises the fact that the earliest structure is contained partly in the range to the right (the hall) and partly under the gable (its service room). The gabled portion has a wide segmental-headed tripartite sash offset to the right at ground floor, a small sashed window to the left under a run-out wooden lintel, two horned sash windows at first floor, a blocked round-headed window in the gable, and a chimney at the apex. The range to the left has a segmental-headed wagon doorway at the left end, a four-pane sash next to this, two small windows under a wooden lintel to the right of that, and three sash windows at first floor (the first four-paned and the third sixteen-paned); the roof is hipped at the junction with the adjoining property. The range to the right has a panelled door with glazed top panels, flanked on each floor by four-pane sash windows (those at ground floor segmental-headed); further to the right is a roughly-quoined vertical joint, beyond which is one segmental-headed four-pane sash window at ground floor. Most windows have red brick surrounds and painted stone sills. The right-hand gable wall has one window on each floor.

At the rear, the main feature is a very wide extruded chimney stack at the back of the hall portion, terminating at eaves level with the roof swept out over it and enclosed at ground floor by a wide lean-to. It now has a narrow small-paned stair-window at first-floor level and a 19th-century brick chimney shaft with a corbelled top. A similar 19th-century chimney is at the north-west corner. The swept eaves continue south of the main chimney stack, crossing a canted chimney stack in line with the gabled centre of the front, above which is a short square brick chimney. The rear wall otherwise has two doorways and various small casement windows.

Entry from the doorway in the northern portion leads directly into the hall, which is of two structural bays and has a massive chamfered lateral beam with triangle stops carrying similarly-decorated joists, originally closely-spaced but with alternate ones now missing. Near the south end of this room is a half-beam, probably indicating the position of a former wooden partition or screen, and the alignment of a doorway in the rear wall with the present window to the left of the present front door suggests there was formerly a cross-passage beyond such a screen. The hall contains much re-sited 17th-century panelling including a carved black oak fireplace surround with an overmantel. This fireplace, in the rear wall, is obviously of reduced width; to the left of it is a plain 18th-century quarter-turn staircase built into the south half of the stack. The room to the south of the hall has beams and joists which do not span the full width, and the next room to the south has re-used timbers as ceiling beams. Other early fabric is visible on the upper floor, but is not immediately intelligible.