Binnerton Manor Farmhouse, Front Courtyard Walls And Adjoining Outbuilding

Binnerton Manor Farmhouse, Front Courtyard Walls and Adjoining Outbuilding

A former manor house, now farmhouse, comprising the main house, front courtyard walls, and adjoining dovecote and outbuilding. The building is probably 17th century in origin but was substantially remodelled and extended during the 18th century. It is constructed of granite rubble walls with slate sills and wooden lintels, covered by a wheat reed thatched T-plan roof with asbestos slate on the rear angle slopes. Part of the thatch sweeps lower over an outshut. The building features an 18th century granite ashlar chimney over the left hand gable end, a brick chimney over the gable end of the front cross wing to the right, and a stone rubble chimney over the rear gable of the cross wing.

The overall plan is L-shaped, consisting of an early to mid-18th century wing on the left, two rooms wide and double depth, and a cross wing on the right incorporating the remains of a 17th century or earlier house at the rear, remodelled or rebuilt in the 18th century at the front. The left hand wing contains two principal 18th century rooms at the front, originally separated by a cross passage between parlour on the left and possibly another parlour on the right, with a central stair and two shallow service rooms under the rear outshut. The house was probably soon afterwards divided into two separate dwellings, with the cross wing on the right becoming a separate house accessed by a stair hall between the front room (now kitchen) and rear room (now parlour). Around the late 18th century, when the house was presumably converted back into one dwelling, the formerly symmetrical five-window front of the left hand wing was remodelled. The right hand cross wing may originally have been a three-room through passage plan house but was remodelled in the 18th century, probably with a small unheated service room between the present kitchen and stair; it now forms a single room though some partition survives near the door on the left.

The house is two storeys, with a slightly irregular four-window front with heightened eaves dating from around the late 18th century, plus the gable end of a deep projecting wing on the right hand side of the front. The front probably originally featured a nearly symmetrical five-window design. Three of the original first floor openings survive unaltered: the two on the left retain their original mid-18th century sixteen-pane two-light casements with thick glazing bars and some original crown glass, while the right hand opening has a circa late 18th century twelve-pane horizontal sliding sash. Old horizontal sliding sashes appear in the widened former doorway (twelve plus twelve panes) and the widened window above (twelve plus sixteen panes). The ground floor left hand window, in an altered opening, is a wide twenty-eight-pane hornless sash. A panelled door occupies a former window opening on the right.

The return courtyard-facing wall of the cross wing on the left has a doorway towards the left with a ledged door and a wide three-light casement above, plus a twelve-pane two-light casement at ground floor left. Framing the angles in front of both doorways is a circa late 19th century lean-to open slate-roofed porch carried on wooden posts with arched bracing between and a shaped bargeboard.

The eastern side of the wing overlooks a rectangular garden, possibly the former vegetable garden. The windows here are irregularly disposed: a twelve-pane casement in a former doorway towards the left and a sixteen-pane hornless sash to the kitchen on the right, with later windows replacing others; however, the two first floor windows are in probably 18th century openings, and a blocked opening exists at ground floor right. A small slate-roofed lean-to stands in front of the left hand side. On the right hand side, the 17th century walling of the kitchen adjoins an outbuilding, now roofless.

Internally, the parlour contains a fine circa mid-18th century plaster Rococo ceiling with moulded cornice and carved arabesque decoration. The adjoining room to the right has 18th century bowtell moulded beams. The main dog-leg stair is 19th century with stick balusters but probably occupies the same position as the mid-18th century stair it replaces. The overall interior remains essentially unaltered since the 19th century. The old roof structures were not inspected but are probably 18th century.

A rectangular walled courtyard encloses the inner angle in front of the house. Against the left hand side is a lean-to. In the front left hand corner stands a two-storey dovecote with a flight of stone steps to the first floor. In front of the dovecote, projecting outside the courtyard, is a two-storey outbuilding possibly used for stabling with fodder storage above. The front wall of the courtyard incorporates a dressed granite jambstone chamfered with diagonal stops, reused but probably from the 17th century house.

The dovecote is constructed of brick with a scantle slate roof and a brick chimney over the gable end; it was possibly used as a granary or for servants' accommodation. It contains six rows of pigeon holes in the gable end, with a row under the eaves. The outbuilding projecting in front of the dovecote dates from circa early 19th century. It has rubble walls with some dressed granite moorstone and a scantle slate roof with gable ends. The building is of two-cell rectangular plan, each cell with a doorway and small window in the left hand (west) wall and a small first floor window. At the rear, the first floor is cob with an old shuttered two-light window on the left and granite steps on the right leading to a circa late 19th century inserted doorway with roof gable.

There was formerly a chapel nearby, and some dressed stone including fragments of window tracery have been found, some of which are in a small garden near the entrance. Local tradition holds that John Wesley stayed at the house. Binnerton Manor is a picturesque farmhouse whose charm owes much to the way it has evolved over time. Despite these changes, notable features survive from the early to mid-18th century period, including two casement windows, an ashlar chimney, and a fine parlour ceiling.