Beaumont Cottage And Southgate Farmhouse

Beaumont Cottage and Southgate Farmhouse are a group of buildings, originally a house, later adapted as a shop and now two dwellings. The core of the house dates back to around 1500, with significant alterations and additions made in the late 16th century, early 17th century, and early 18th century, and further modifications in the 19th and 20th centuries. The building is timber-framed and plastered, with a steeply pitched roof covered in black glazed pantiles to the front, red pantiles to the rear, and some areas with plaintiles and slate.

Originally, the house comprised a two-bay open hall with a storeyed lower bay to the right, a lobby entry bay to the left (the upper end), a two-bay projecting shop and parlour cross wing, and a later two-bay block added to the front of what was originally the service end. The house is generally one storey with an attic, with two-storey additions. A lobby entrance leads to a short lean-to with a six-panelled door, above which is a four-light ovolo-mullioned window. The axial ridge stack has a broached and moulded base with four diagonally set shafts and sawtooth ends.

The parlour cross wing was likely designed to incorporate a shop in the smaller front bay. The ground floor has a 3-light casement, and the first floor features a four-light casement replacing a former oriel window, flanked by smaller three-light ovolo-mullioned windows. Exposed roof timbers are visible. An 18th-century stack is situated in the right return behind the shop bay. The left return has a 19th-century projection to the front, concealing a first-floor casement that replaced a five-light ovolo-mullioned window with flanking three-light windows. To the right of the entrance are the original hall bays, lower in eaves and ridge, with a three-light casement and a two-light gabled dormer. The original service or solar bay is now located behind the early 18th-century block, and the original stack has been truncated.

The early 18th-century two-bay block has a central six-panelled door with a bracketed hood, flanked by 19th-century sashed canted bay windows with moulded heads, first-floor 2-light casements, and an external 19th-century stack in a small lean-to outshut. The rear of the original building extends slightly further, featuring a three-light dormer and 20th-century additions. 17th-century bays have restored three-light diamond mullioned windows, and there is an entrance into the parlour.

The interior of the hall features restored walling and open trussed braces, with inserted storey posts and stop-chamfered binding beams and joists. The first floor is characterised by open trussed posts of rebated section, a cambered tie beam, a 16th-century roof with collars and halved principals clasping purlins, arched windbraces; and a hall chamber fireplace with an ovolo-moulded four-centred arch. The parlour contains close studding, a stop-chamfered axial binding beam and mid-rails, and a chamfered depressed arched, stuccoed fireplace. The former shop shows traces of two large windows and peg holes for shelving. The parlour chamber has an ovolo-moulded four-centred arched fireplace with a stucco surround designed to resemble ashlar. The roofs of the 17th-century portions and Beaumont Cottage were not inspected.