Blands Farmhouse

Blands Farmhouse is a house built in 1789, constructed of squared coursed sandstone with a stone slate roof. It has two storeys and two bays, featuring chamfered quoins. The windows have plain stone surrounds, with sash windows on the first floor and modern windows below. The door, located between the bays, also has a plain stone surround. Above the door is an oval plaque inscribed with 'A. Borrow 1789'. The gables are topped with copings and kneelers, and there are chimneys. To the right of the facade, there is a cellar doorway at a lower level. Inside the cellar, there are two roughly-dressed stone columns with crude capitals that support stone lintels running from the front to the rear of the house, to the left of the cellar doorway. Although there is local speculation about their early date, these columns are probably from the late 18th century. At the rear of the house, to the right, is a stone blacksmith's hearth, which seems to connect to an underground watercourse through an opening at the back. This hearth was likely used for sharpening tools for the sandstone quarry depicted in front of the house on the first edition of the 6-inch Ordnance Survey map from 1847. A porch with baluster columns and a semi-circular pediment, mentioned in the Provisional List, has now been dismantled and is lying in the garden.