Newhouse Farmhouse and attached barns, Burnaston, Derbyshire

Summary

A late-C17 lobby-entry farmhouse, extended in the C19 with attached C18 and early-C19 barn ranges.

Description

A late-C17 lobby-entry farmhouse, extended in the C19 with attached C18 and early-C19 barn ranges.

MATERIALS: constructed of brick with slate roofs, the farmhouse has a stucco render. The two-storey barn has a steel roof structure and internal structural supports.

PLAN: the farmstead forms a U-shape enclosing a yard open to the south, with the farmhouse at its centre.

EXTERIOR: the farmhouse is three bays with three storeys and a roughly central C19 entrance porch. The principal façade largely contains C19 casement windows with the exception of three regular large openings on the ground floor to the left of the entrance, which would once have housed sashes but are now C20 replacements. The C19 extensions form two two-storey abutting rages to the rear of the farmhouse, all now with C20 casements.

To the west of the farmhouse, at the left-hand side of the yard, the former service end of the building drops to two storeys and continues to the west to meet the two-storey barn which runs north to south with a single storey section at the southern end. The barn is constructed in an irregular bond and has ventilation holes on its western and southern ends, now all blocked. The western façade of the building has a large inserted opening at its northern end and a further large opening to the north situated within one of the C19 outshuts. A C20 external brick stair to access the grain storage above is situated to the south of the openings followed by two doors further to the south, with window openings and casements in between. On the first floor are two taking-in doors for hoisting grain above the stables for storage. To the south the barn is abutted by a single storey range with king-post roof which turns to run along Old Etwall Road as a series of cart sheds with open bays to the north.

To the right (east) of the farmhouse is a covered carriageway, linking the courtyard with the land to the rear. To the right of this the barns continue to both the east and south, the late-C19 range to the very east is a later addition and is not included in the List entry. The barns are single-storey and constructed of brick in an irregular bond with casement windows and stone lintels. The barn range running roughly north-west to south-east enclosing the yard has a hipped roof.

INTERIOR: the house has a lobby-entry plan and opens onto the central chimney stack with former hall to the right and parlour beyond. The former hall features a chamfered ceiling beam with ogee stops running west to east and a heck post at the lobby screen to support the hearth beam to its rear. To the rear of the hall is a C19 inserted stair, behind the original rear wall. The former parlour has a further beam with ogee stops and a C19 window with shutters at its southern end; the fire surround is modern. On the other side of the former hall, is an additional room likely to have once been the kitchen, now a further reception room, located at the service end of the building. There are further unchamfered beams in this room, indicating the lower-status end of the building. To the rear the building continues into the C19 extensions containing a modern kitchen, cloakroom facilities and a secondary stair.

The first-floor plan of the earlier farmhouse mirrors that of the storey below with three bedrooms each with ceiling beams with ogee stops, all linked by a corridor to the north. A linen cupboard with C19 pegs survives between the bedrooms. An additional bedroom and two bathrooms are situated in the upper storey of the C19 extension, with C19 plank doors and a fireplace within one of the bathrooms. The majority of the attic storey roof has been replaced in the C20.

The two-storey barn has stabling at ground-floor level with three C19 horse stalls with cast-iron columns and ball finials and timber boxes below the iron rails. The stalls all retain their iron hay racks and have brick paved flooring. On the first floor of this range, at the northern end of the building, is an iron winch for hoisting up grain. The barn continues at first-floor level to the east, above the former farmhouse kitchen, to extend into the former service range. Below this, at ground-floor level next to the former kitchen, is a single-cell room also with brick paved flooring and remnants of a timber hay rack, with a door leading directly onto the main yard.

The interior of the early-C19 barn range to the south east of the farmhouse was not inspected.

SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: a brick wall with brick piers and gates runs along Old Etwall Road to the south of the farmhouse and enclosing the yard. The wall has brick coping and the piers have stone courses and capping.

History

Newhouse Farm is first recorded on a survey of 1767, noted as being part of Robert Newton’s ‘Manour of Mickleover’ estate. The survey map is understood to show the farm as a linear range with a further perpendicular range at its western end. By the time of the Tithe map of 1840, the farm had gained a further range at its eastern end to form a u-shaped farmstead plan enclosing a courtyard open to the south. By the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1882 a series of outshuts are recorded to the rear of the farmhouse. The barns to the east of the farmhouse had also been extended further east by this time. The Ordnance Survey map of 1901 shows that the eastern barns had been extended further and a new outbuilding had been erected at the south east corner, helping to enclose an additional yard to the east of the farmhouse. This is the layout which essentially survives today, with further C20 agricultural buildings to the north.

The farmhouse as it survives today appears to date from the late-C17 or early-C18, and is likely to originally been a three-room plan rectangular range, as suggested by the Tithe map, with the later extensions to the north dating from in the mid-C19, as well as some interior fittings from the period, suggesting a phase of modernisation at this time. The roof has been replaced during the C20 or C21.

The attached barns have features dating from numerous phases. The large barn to the west appears to date from the C18 and has been altered during the C19 and C20 to accommodate changing uses; its surviving horse stalls appear to be of C19 date and its roof is also replaced.

Reasons for Listing

Newhouse Farm, a late-C17 lobby-entry farmhouse with barns and stabling from the C18/C19 is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* the farmhouse is likely to date to the late-C17 and clearly retains its lobby entry plan-form with three rooms on both the ground and first floor;
* despite replacement windows and the loss of some fixtures, the farmhouse retains many of its internal fittings, including chamfered beams with ogee stops and a C19 linen cupboard;
* despite the loss of the western barn’s roof structure, it retains important fittings including a winch mechanism for hoisting grain and later C19 stabling.

Historic interest:

* the legibility of the farmhouse’s plan-form helps to demonstrate how its inhabitants used the building from the late-C17, with a hall, parlour and service end clearly legible;
* the later phases of the farm, particularly the eastern barns enclosing the main courtyard, show the development and expansion of the farm into the C19.

Group value:

* together the farmhouse and barns form a strong group enclosing a yard to their south, with brick boundary wall.

External Links

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