Upper Blackhill Farmhouse

The following building shall be added:

SO 23 SE CRASWALL -

1059/2/10001 Upper Blackhill Farmhouse

• II

Longhouse. Probably C16 or early C17, remodelled and extended in circa late C17 or C18 and altered in C19. Old red sandstone coursed rubble, limewashed at front. Sandstone tile roof with gabled ends, extensions clad in corrugated iron sheets. Stone rubble gable end stack with rebuilt brick shaft. Plan: Original longhouse built down hill, its lower right-hand (S.E.) end is the byre, the house part to left built into hillside. Remodelled and reroofed circa late C17 or C18, putative through passage enlarged with wider full-height doorways at front and back, the house part consequently reduced, with a separate direct entry at the front and a gable end stack. Byres at either end and outshut on front of original byre were probably added at same time (circa late C17-C18). Internal arrangement of the house part with a small unheated room and staircase partitioned off at the back and chambers above might be C19 alterations. EXTERIOR: 2 storey house left, single storey byre right. Asymmetrical SW front. On left 2 small casements with doorway between and casement above to left; 'through passage' doorway to right and to right of that the roof is carried down over outshut as catslide. On right (S.E.) end added byre with lower roof and 2 doorways, left blocked; at left (NW) end another outbuilding added on higher ground level. At rear (N.E.) wide doorway at centre, small casement to right and C20 outbuilding attached to left concealing 2 ventilation slits. INTERIOR: In lower gable end of byre truncated blade of cruck truss embedded in front corner. Complete C17/18 5-bay roof structure survives with 4 large tie-beam and queen-strut trusses with mortice and tenoned joints, diagonal trenched ridgepiece and 2 tiers of trenched purlins; common rafters and battens intact. A remarkable feature is the low screen on low side of former through-passage, its heavy wooden frame rebated for slate panels which remain intact. 2 splayed ventilation slits in rear wall of original byre and small doorway in lower end wall. Stone flag floor in widened through-passage, in house and possibly in byre. C19 range in house with pot-hanger.

Listing NGR: SO2955332373