Oversteps The Briar

Oversteps and The Briar are two houses located in Mill Hill, Polperro, dating from the early 18th century, with a rear extension added in the mid-19th century. The front elevation was also remodeled during this time. The buildings are constructed of painted and rendered stone rubble, featuring an asbestos slate roof on the front slope and a rag slate roof on the rear slope. There is a projecting truncated stone rubble chimney stack on the higher gable end, a rendered brick chimney stack on the lower gable end, and another in the gable end of the rear projecting wing. Additionally, there is a projecting stone rubble rear lateral hall stack with a brick shaft.

Originally, the structure appears to have been a three-room plan house built into the hillside, with gable end stacks and a front lateral hall stack, possibly including a cross passage. In the mid-19th century, it was subdivided into two houses, heightened to three storeys, and reoriented so that the higher rear level became the front, with a wing added at the rear of the lower level. Alternatively, it could be a pair of two-storey houses built over cellars, facing the lower ground level at the rear.

The Mill Hill elevation features two storeys and an asymmetrical three-window front. The ground floor includes two 19th-century four-pane sash windows, a 19th-century doorcase with panelled pilasters, and a part-glazed panelled door with a flat hood. To the right, there is another 19th-century four-pane sash window. The right-hand range, known as The Briar, has a part-glazed 20th-century door and a 20th-century casement window with glazing bars, both beneath timber lintels. The first floor has three four-pane sashes in gabled half-dormers. The rear elevation is asymmetrical, featuring a regular three-storey wing at the lower left-hand end. The interior likely has 18th-century ceiling beams, but The Briar and the upper floor of Oversteps have not been inspected.