Merry Shield Farmhouse, Attached Cottage, Farmbuilding, House Occupied By Mr And Mrs Beattie And Garden Wall

Merry Shield Farmhouse comprises a late 18th-century farmhouse with an attached cottage to the north and a farmbuilding range extending to the east, linking it with an eastern house. A garden wall is attached to the east of the eastern house. A cottage extension was added in the mid-19th century. The farmhouse is built of rubble, with cut quoins and dressings, some parts rendered. The farmbuilding is brick-lined, while the wall is brick with a stone plinth and coping. The roof is purple slate with stone copings and brick stacks.

The original plan was a near-symmetrical composition, but the farmhouse was extended to the north and the cottage added to create an L-shape. The long south front has three-storey, one-bay ends and a two-storey central section. The centre is blank except for a modern glazed porch to the eastern house and a boarded central door in a narrow, chamfered opening at the farmhouse, alongside a pitching door to the right and a small window to the left; this area connects with the first bay of the farmbuilding.

The left return shows the main front of the farmhouse, incorporating one bay of a two-storey extension. This section has two wide, irregular bays with a boarded door to the cottage on the left and a four-panel door to the farmhouse on the right, both with overlights. Scattered four-pane sashes are present in this part. The original three-storey farmhouse section features a single wide bay with tripartite sashes having glazing bars on the ground and first floors. Keyed bunettes are positioned above. Stone gable copings and curved kneelers are present, with stacks at the right end, and on the ridge and left end of the extension.

The right return exhibits a similar appearance to the farmhouse in the eastern house, except the east wall is rendered, and a first-floor window has been replaced with casements in a tripartite style.

The rear elevation shows pebbledash on the cottage. The outbuilding has six bays, with an angled stone stair leading to a loft door on the left, three boarded doors, and part-slatted openings.

The garden wall, a remnant of a larger walled garden, runs north from the north-east corner of the eastern house for approximately 30 metres, and returns east for 2 metres at its north end; it has flat slab coping. Small brick and breeze-block extensions to the rear of the eastern house are not considered to be of architectural interest.