Colan Barton Farmhouse

Colan Barton Farmhouse

This is a farmhouse, probably built in the late 17th century, with alterations and additions dating to the early 19th century, late 19th century changes, and a few later modifications. The building is constructed of slatestone rubble and cob.

The main range features a slurried scantle slate roof with ridge tiles and gable ends. Gable end stacks rise from the structure—a rubble shaft on the right and a brick shaft on the left. A separate range to the right has its own slate roof and a brick gable end stack.

The plan originally consisted of two rooms: a larger room to the left and a smaller room to the right, divided by a cross passage, each heated from its own gable end stack. In the 19th century, a single-room addition was built at the right end (also heated from a gable end stack), and a kitchen wing was added to the left end with a service stair serving the room above, likewise heated from a gable end stack. Unheated single-storey outshuts with lofts run along the entire rear of the main house.

The exterior presents nearly symmetrical 2-storey frontage with three windows. The first floor has three early 19th-century 16-pane sashes. On the ground floor, a late 19th-century square bay with pitched roof occupies the left side, fitted with plate-glass windows and a 19th-century 4-panelled door to its right. The right side of the ground floor contains a 2-light casement with Gothic glazing bars. A buttress marks the junction with the right-hand addition, which has 19th-century French windows with Gothic glazing bars below and a 6-pane sash at first floor level.

The main range's left side terminates in a blind gable end. The 19th-century kitchen range is set back, built of rubble and cob with slurried scantle slate roof, and fronted by a single-storey lean-to with slate roof. Its right gable end is blind, with a 2-storey outshut at the rear featuring 16-pane sashes at both ground and first floor levels. The roof forms a slurried slate catslide over the outshut, meeting at a straight joint with the dairy outshut to the left, which has a 12-pane sash at ground floor.

The middle range rear elevation has three windows with vertical lights (work windows), a stable door with brick segmental head, and a 6-pane sash. At first floor are two 2-light 6-pane casements with L-hinges and a gabled dormer containing a 4-pane sash. The kitchen wing to the right features a 4-panelled door and two wide work windows, with a 6-pane sash at first floor. The upper part of the rear wall is cob.

Internally, the entrance passage has a granite paved floor and front door with strap hinges. A straight stair inserted through the full width of the passage sits at its rear. The front left room contains a fireplace with a 20th-century range inserted and a settle to one side with a carved armrest, probably 18th-century work. A panelled cupboard stands to the left of the fireplace, and 19th-century ceiling beams are visible. The front right room has a fireplace with a flat roughly hewn timber lintel and granite jambs, a cloam oven with a clay door fitted with two handles, and 19th-century panelled shutters to the windows. The 19th-century end room to the right has a chimneypiece and cupboards to right and left with scalloped wooden edging. The kitchen at the left end is paved in granite and contains 19th-century beams, a large fireplace with 19th-century mantel and oven, and a boiling copper with lid to the right. A boxed straight stair serves the room above. The dairy in the rear right features a slate paved floor, slate shelves, a central slate table, and a suspended wooden shelf.