Templar Cottage, Beckfoot Farmhouse And Beckfoot Cottage

Templar Cottage, Beckfoot Farmhouse, and Beckfoot Cottage are a group of houses dating back to 1617, with a mid-17th century addition and a mid-20th century alteration. They are constructed of large dressed stone with stone slate roofs. The buildings are attached in a line, forming a long range, and are of two storeys.

The house to the left is T-shaped, featuring a cross-wing. The front of the original 1617 section (left-hand side) features double-chamfered mullioned windows, some with almost square reveals. The ground floor has a four-light window (missing two mullions) above a three-light window. The housebody (second cell) features a two-light window to the left of a five-light window, with a four-light and a two-light window above. A mid-20th century gabled porch connects the second and third cells, with a four-light window in the third cell, and a matching window above, both renewed in concrete. A rainwater spout is located at the junction between the earlier house and the porch. There are two ridge stacks, and the left gable is coped with kneelers. The rear elevation has further three-light and two-light windows. A three-light window to the first floor is visible on the left-hand return wall.

The attached house of 1617 on the right-hand return appears to have originally been comprised of two cells, with a third cell added later. The first and second cells project forward of the third cell. The first cell has a five-light window with a hoodmould above, and a doorway with composite jambs, a Tudor-arched lintel, a cyma-moulded surround, and a date stone set above the doorway. A two-light window above the second cell, set back, has a six-light window with a cottage doorway where one light has been removed, and a renewed concrete sill. Above this window is a five-light window. The third cell, set back, features a four-light window with a three-light window above, and a doorway with a chamfered surround. Coped gables with kneelers are present, with lantern finials often associated with the Knights Templars adorning the apex of each gable. There are two 20th-century stacks set forward from the ridge. At the rear, the third cell has a Tudor-arched doorway with a cyma-moulded surround, while the second cell breaks forward and has a four-light window above a five-light mullioned window. The first cell has a two-light window to the left of a four-by-four light mullioned window, with further two-light and three-light windows above.

The interior of the 1617 house features a fine original corner fireplace with a Tudor-arched lintel and moulded surround (cyma, step, cyma), and bold stops. There are stop-chamfered floor joists and spine-beams, one of which has a groove for panelling. The first floor retains a tie-beam with mortices for brace, wallplate, and post, indicating that the building was originally timber-framed. The fireplace has a square lintel with a cyma-moulded surround. A division between two rooms contains board-and-muntin panelling with triple reeded edges. The ground floor of the second cell has scarf-jointed spine beams, evidence of a former bressumer and fire-hood, now replaced by a mid-18th century fireplace with monolithic jambs and a basket-arched bressumer. The roof is a king-post roof without struts.