The Great House

The Great House is a house dating from the 17th to early 18th century, with later alterations. It is constructed of whitewashed rubble stone with slate roofs. The main range comprises two parts, with a higher eaves level to the west end. A lower service range, built at right angles, obscures the join between the two parts on the north front.

The north front of the west section has a casement pair to the extreme left, and two cambered-headed windows from the 18th century to the centre of each floor. These windows have stone voussoirs and keystones; the upper one is blocked, while the lower one has a triple casement. The north wing has a lean-to porch in the angle. Above, there is a casement pair slightly left, a ground floor casement pair centrally, and loft stairs leading to a boarded granary door, the stairs passing over another ground floor casement pair – both windows have brick heads. A brick stack and slate-roofed lean-to are present on the north side, representing a former engine house. The rear of the north wing has a ground floor lean-to addition and two upper windows; a casement pair to the left and a boarded granary window to the right.

The north front of the east section has a single window on each floor, with a 20th-century insertion below the upper one, which is a casement pair in an 18th-century surround matching those on the other side. The east end wall has an external chimneybreast. The rear of the east section features three casement pairs under the eaves, a blocked window to the right of centre, a casement pair with a brick cambered head to the ground floor right, and a glazed door to the left of centre. The rear of the west section has a first floor triple casement to the extreme right, a single light below, and a casement pair to the left of centre, all dating from the 19th or later, framed in brick with cambered heads. The west end wall has been rebuilt in whitewashed brick, with two first-floor windows and one to the attic, all casement pairs as on the rear.

The house was originally arranged with three rooms. The large centre chimney was rebuilt smaller when the west end chimney and wall were rebuilt, leaving a narrow room behind the present chimney. The east end room was formerly a dairy and was separate from the rest of the house. A fireplace remains with a large chamfered timber lintel. A massive door is also present. The centre room has been altered, with modern stairs leading from a passage along the north side. A 17th-century panel to a cupboard door, with scribed mouldings, is retained. There are three big chamfered beams. The first floor retains a remarkable survival of part of a richly moulded panel ceiling, consisting of 2 x 3 panels, presumably from an upstairs parlour or solar. The beams have complex mouldings, visible partly over the stairs and partly in the room to the south. The relationship to an earlier house needs further investigation. An 18th-century window with voussoirs and a keystone has been turned to face inward, indicating that the north wing is an addition. A west end bedroom has a painted chamfered beam with a scribed centre underside longitudinal double bead mould. The roof has two heavy trusses at the east end, with a trench for massive purlins, followed by a rebuilt chimney and reconstructed roof, then two trusses over a loft to the west, and one in a partition wall. The north wing has a heavy 17th-century beam with stepped hollow stops to the chamfers, possibly reused, and a fireplace and bread oven in the north end wall.