Carpenter'S Arms Inn

CARPENTER'S ARMS INN

A house, now functioning as an inn, originally built probably in the early sixteenth century and remodelled in the early seventeenth century, with later alterations and a twentieth-century addition to the lower end. The building is constructed of slatestone rubble with partly granite ashlar and granite dressings. The roof is asbestos slate, with a gable end to the left and hipped to the right; the front bay has a hipped roof. An axial stack to the hall in granite ashlar with cornice and shaped top remains; other stacks have been removed.

The original plan comprised three rooms and a through passage. The hall occupies the left side, probably originally open to the roof and now heated from an inserted axial stack backing onto the passage. The lower end is to the right, with an inner room at the end left. In the mid-seventeenth century, the hall bay was extended to the front when a floor was inserted in the hall; at approximately the same time, a stair tower was added to the rear of the hall. The upper end room is now open to the hall, with only the lower part of the dividing wall remaining. Probably in the late seventeenth century, an outshut was added to the rear of the hall, in the angle with the stair tower. In the late twentieth century, a large two-storey addition was constructed at the lower end.

The exterior presents an asymmetrical two-storey front. The passage features a granite doorway with a basket arch, hollow-chamfered with stops, and a nineteenth-century sixteen-pane sash window to the right with a brick segmental head. At first floor are a two-light twentieth-century casement and twentieth-century verandah on piers. A large two-storey twentieth-century rendered addition occupies the right end. The hall bay has a hipped roof to the front with a three-light casement at ground floor with L-hinges and a reused timber lintel, and a nineteenth-century six-pane sash at first floor. The right side of the bay is in granite ashlar with a single granite hollow-chamfered light at first floor. To the left is a single-storey nineteenth-century addition with a two-light casement with brick segmental head. A well and pump with lead spout are attached to the front of the hall bay.

The rear of the lower end has a single-storey lean-to with plate-glass sash and a rear lateral stack in rubble with brick shaft. The rear of the hall features a wide stair tower with hipped roof, a ground-floor door, and a blocked single stair light at lower level with a twentieth-century stair light at upper level. At first floor to the right is a two-light casement. A single-storey lean-to at the rear of the hall to the right contains a twentieth-century two-light casement and a stack with brick shaft.

The interior of the hall contains four heavy chamfered beams with bar and run-out stops, and a slate-paved floor. The front window in the hall bay has a wooden lintel, chamfered with run-out stop. The fireplace has a flat granite lintel and jambs, chamfered. Both the door to the stair tower and the hall-to-passage door have three-centred arched heads in wood, chamfered. The outshut to the rear left of the hall has two chamfered arched doorways, inserted and probably moved from the lower end of the passage; a similar doorway at the upper end of the hall leads into the inner room, with a beam across the end wall of the hall. The stair tower contains a newel stair and includes small chambers at ground and first floor, with a Tudor arched doorway at first floor. The lower end room has been much remodelled; one beam with bar and run-out stops remains, and the rear lateral fireplace has been rebuilt. The end wall to the right has been partly demolished to provide access to the twentieth-century addition.

At first floor, the chamber over the hall has a granite fireplace, hollow-chamfered with flat lintel and pyramid stops, and one remaining chamfered beam. The room has been partitioned, revealing heavy chamfered feet of principal rafters. The chamber over the lower end room has a rebuilt rear lateral fireplace and narrow unchamfered beams.

The roof has been rebuilt over the original trusses. Principal rafters have curved feet. Two trusses span the hall, with principal rafters chamfered below ceiling level but not above; they formerly had trenched purlins. The collars are cambered and chamfered, halved to the principals; principals are halved and pegged at the apex with diagonal ridge purlin. In the hall bay is one truss, formerly with threaded purlins and without a collar, otherwise matching the main trusses. Over the stair tower is one truss, halved and pegged at the apex and not chamfered, with chamfered and cambered collar halved and pegged, with trenched purlins and diagonal ridge purlin. The roof over the lower end has two similar trusses with cambered dovetailed collars and trenched purlins. Dovetailed joints may also exist in the upper end roof, though not fully accessible.