Burnewhall Old Farmhouse

Burnewhall Old Farmhouse

This is a farmhouse, now converted into two houses, located in St Buryan. The building probably dates from the late medieval period but was substantially remodelled or rebuilt around the early 17th century, with further extensions added in the mid and late 17th century.

The structure is built of granite rubble with granite dressings and some slate hanging. The roof is covered with dry Delabole slate on the older left (east) end, with grouted scantle slate sweeping low over the outshut of the taller right section, though this has been replaced with corrugated asbestos at the front. A dressed granite chimney stands over the left-hand gable end, with brick chimneys positioned over the gable ends of the taller section to the right.

The original house probably had a three-room plan with a cross passage, facing north, with its hall and inner room positioned to the left of the early 17th-century front doorway. The lower western room may have become a parlour or hall in the 17th century, as evidenced by two windows at the front. The house was then extended to the right with a large parlour wing featuring substantial windows facing what is now the rear of the old house. Around 1700, an outshut containing a staircase was added in front of this new wing.

The exterior presents two storeys. The old house has a slightly irregular north front, with the rear of the later 17th-century addition visible on its right side. The front displays many 17th-century mullioned windows or their outer frames. An early 17th-century moulded doorway is positioned towards the right of the old front, now enclosed within a 19th-century gable-ended porch. To the left of the doorway is a former two-light 17th-century window, with a later 19th-century window further left (probably enlarged for an early 19th-century 12-pane sash) and a later opening at the far left. To the right of the doorway is a wide two-light 17th-century mullioned window with rebated edges, possibly for shutters, followed by a former two-light 17th-century window now serving as a doorway with a ledged door. The first floor contains four window openings: a blocked 17th-century window on the left and three later or altered openings, all fitted with early 19th-century sashes with glazing bars. An early 19th-century six-panel door occupies the main doorway.

The rear of the old house features an approximately central two-light 17th-century window (possibly a stair window) and another two-light 17th-century window at ground floor left, surrounded by slate hanging. A doorway within a 19th-century porch towards the right may be cut through a former hall window position. There is no sign of a doorway opposite the front doorway, and much of the masonry on the right appears to be an old rebuilding. A window under the eaves to the right of the porch appears to be chamfered.

The south front of the mid-17th-century parlour wing displays two closely-set four-light mullioned windows with two blocked lights, and three-light mullioned windows above. Each first floor window has had a mullion removed to insert later windows, and each has a blocked light on its right. Another 17th-century window is positioned in the left-hand gable end, now blocked.

Internally, the left-hand end of the house shows few old features. Paired early 19th-century panelled doors are fitted to a possibly blocked window opening in the front wall of the left-hand room. The wall between two of the windows (now a door and window) at the far right of the old house is carried on a moulded corbel. A circa 1700 two-panel door with eaved architrave connects the parlour wing to its outshut. Within the outshut stands a circa 1700 dog-leg staircase with turned balusters. Fireplaces are partly blocked. The roof structures were not inspected, though the feet of old trusses are visible at the right-hand end of the old part of the house.