Keveral Barton

Keveral Barton is a Grade II* listed building, possibly the remains of a much larger house with the present barton originally forming the front range of a courtyard complex. It dates from circa the 16th century, was remodelled in the mid-17th century, and received extensions in the 18th and 19th centuries. It was later converted to a barton and is now a private house.

The building is constructed of rendered stone rubble and cob with a slate roof featuring gable ends. A gabled rear wing projects from the left, and a half-hipped rear wing from the right. There is a projecting stone rubble rendered chimney stack on the left-hand gable end, a rendered stone end stack to the right of centre that was later replaced by an axial stack, and a rendered rear lateral stack on the left heating the rear wing. A room added to the right-hand gable end in circa the early 19th century is heated by a rear lateral rendered chimney stack.

The barton was probably originally part of a much larger range arranged around a courtyard. Although evidence of a cobbled yard and foundations of probably early buildings survive to the rear, the arrangement of the earlier plan is uncertain. Keveral Barton likely formed the front range with a wide through passage leading into the courtyard. The range was probably remodelled in the mid-17th century when a 2-room plan with a wide central through passage was reworked into a 3-room plan. The thick walls flanking the passage were retained and further partitions inserted to form a wide entrance hall and dairy within the passage. Around the mid-18th century a further wing was added to the rear on the left, and in circa the early 19th century the main range was extended on the right-hand gable end with an additional room. Around the mid-19th century a stair was inserted in the left-hand rear wing and another rear wing added on the right, forming an overall asymmetrical U-shaped plan. In circa the late 19th or 20th century a glazed outshut was added in the angle to the rear of the blocked through passage.

The front elevation is 2 storeys with a symmetrical 3-window design, later extended on the right-hand gable end. The ground floor has 2 early 19th-century 16-pane hornless sashes flanking a wide central 16th-century entrance with a granite segmental, almost 3-centred arch with heavy rollmould. The spandrels are ornately carved with differing patterns, a hoodmould, carved label stops, and a 20th-century double door. The extension to the right has a 19th-century 4-pane sash. The first floor has 3 early 19th-century hornless sashes with a deep moulded cornice above that terminates at the junction with the right-hand extension. The rear elevation shows a blocked entrance to the through passage with a granite segmental, almost 3-centred chamfered arch of similar width to the front, simple stops, carved spandrels, and a hoodmould.

Interior features include a wide through passage later blocked by inserted partitions comprising a wide entrance hall with a dairy to the rear. The left-hand room has a plastered ceiling and fireplace with a renewed lintel. Owners report that evidence of a smoking oven and turretted stair was discovered during work to the left-hand gable end. There is a high-quality late 17th-century fielded panelled door to the rear of the left-hand room. A 19th-century softwood simple stair occupies the rear projecting wing. The roof of the remodelled 16th-century range spans 7 bays with circa mid-17th-century roof trusses morticed at the apex. Collars are part halved, lapped and pegged onto the face of principals, and a full set of carpenters' marks is visible. Two heavy tie beams sit above the through passage partitions with a closed truss above the right-hand partition. The extended range on the right-hand gable end is divided by a circa 16th-century gable end wall and contains 2 19th-century trusses. Owners report that some features may have been removed during the 1960s when the house lay vacant, but recent alterations have uncovered additional interesting features, including a 2-light probably ovolo-moulded timber mullion window in the rear elevation that had been blocked by a 19th-century cupboard.

Keveral was the ancient seat of the Keverells family before passing to the Langdon family. In 1628 Walter Langdon was committed to the Tower. In the early 18th century Keveral passed to the Bullers of Shillingham when John Buller, having already inherited the manor of Morval through his first wife, married Anne, heiress of Langdon. In the mid-18th century James Buller married the heiress of William Gould of Downes near Crediton, and the family made Downes their principal seat, keeping the bartons of Morval, Keveral, and Golden in their own hands while maintaining Morval House as their Cornish residence. Farm accounts for Keveral Barton survive from 1752–65 in Cornwall County Record Office (CRO BU 65).