Little Beside Farmhouse

Summary

A house, dating from the early C19, with a C19 lean-to extension to the west, and a C20 extension to the east end.

Reasons for Designation

Little Beside Farmhouse is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Historic interest: it is an early-C19 building, which retains a significant proportion of historic building fabric;
* Architectural interest: it is a granite house, which is still recognisable as a modest dwelling constructed in the local Cornish building tradition, with some architectural pretensions;
* Intactness: despite some internal alterations, it retains many of the original roof timbers, some C19 joinery and evidence of the four-room plan;
* Group value: it has good group value with Little Beside House (listed, Grade II), the adjacent early-C19 manor house.

History

The house, which is shown as a single unit on the tithe map of 1840, appears to have originated in the early part of the C19. A lean-to of similar date was added to the western end of the range, providing a service range; and in the C20, a small, single-storey gabled bay was added to the east. There are two winder stairs, one of which (on the north side), has been partly blocked and extended to join with the other (on the south side). The underside of the southern stair is painted; however, on inspection, the scantling of the treads on the southern stair appear thinner than those of the treads on the northern stair suggesting that the southern stair is later. It is possible that the building was divided into two dwellings as some point in the C19 and was then converted back into a single dwelling. The house is shown as a single dwelling not only on the tithe map, but also on the historic Ordnance Survey maps of the early C20. Some alterations have taken place in the later C20, in particular changes to features in the front elevations, including the addition of a porch to the main elevation, for which Listed Building Consent was granted; and some slight reordering of the rooms in the first floor.

Details

A house, dating from the early C19, with a C19 lean-to extension to the west, and a C20 extension to the east end.

MATERIALS
The house is constructed from granite rubble walls with dressed granite quoins, sills, jambstones and lintels. The main roof is covered in asbestos slate, with red clay capping tiles at the ridges; the chimney is of brick. The additions are covered in corrugated asbestos and asbestos slates.

PLAN
The plan has two front rooms and two rear rooms forming a double-depth plan, formerly with a central through-passage between them, with C19 service rooms within the western lean-to, and a small C20 addition to the east.

EXTERIOR
The building is of two storeys and three bays. The symmetrical main (south) front has a central doorway within a C20 gabled, glazed porch and a C20 door. The porch is flanked by horned, four-paned sash windows with exposed sash boxes, with two similar windows above them. The roof of the main range is half-hipped. To the right, the eastern extension, which is painted over render, has C20 patio doors to the front, and a small brick chimney. To the left, the roof of the C19 lean-to extension rises almost to the wall-plate of the main range; this extension is also painted over stone and render. The rear of the main range is similar to the front but with a blind or blocked window over the doorway, six-over-six (ground-floor), and eight-over-eight (first-floor), hornless sashes with glazing bars, and a C20 door.

INTERIOR
Opposite the north entrance is the current staircase, which rises in a straight flight and then breaks forward and back to give access to the front and rear rooms in the first floor. The house retains several four-panelled doors of the C19, one of which has had C20 coloured glass let into it. There has been some internal reordering, including the extension of one of the ground-floor reception rooms into part of the adjacent extension; and the moving of an internal partition in the first floor to create a larger bedroom and bathroom. The fireplace in the kitchen has a C20 surround and there is a modern granite fireplace in the C20 extension. The roof structure is constructed from A-frame trusses with paired principal rafters, purlins and high collars. It retains many of its original common rafters.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

63245

Legacy System:

LBS

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