Park Farmhouse

Park Farmhouse is a farmhouse of medieval origins, extended during the 18th and 19th centuries. The building is constructed of stone rubble, with the earlier range featuring ashlar slate stone walls with plinth and dressed quoins. It is roofed with rag slate and gable ends. Brick stacks are incorporated: an axial stack on the left, an end stack on the right, and a side lateral stack with an end stack to the rear wing.

The most significant feature is a tower-like structure within the rear wing. This tower is square in plan and comprises ashlar slate walls over a metre thick on all four sides, with a plinth evident on three sides. The dressed quoins and straight joints are clearly visible and indicate the tower was probably at least two storeys and approximately 7 metres in diameter. Its original purpose remains unclear. Historical sources suggest various possibilities: Leland noted circa 1535-39 that Bottreaux held "a faire manor castelle" at a place called Park; Polsue in 1876 suggested the farmhouse occupies the site of the old mansion; E H Sedding in 1909 proposed the tower may have formed a gateway or entrance to a manor house quadrangle, connected to the main building by curtain walls; alternatively, Davies Gilbert recorded walls, fences, gardens, walks and a tower house associated with an ancient deer-park, though this appears to have been sited further east near Pencarrow.

The farmhouse is of overall L-shaped plan. The front range comprises a 2-room layout with cross passage, heated by end stacks, with a stair and service room to the rear of the left room and passage, and the tower to the rear of the right room. Beyond the tower is a further room with an end wall rebuilt in the late 20th century. A garage with room above was added to the left hand room in the mid to late 20th century.

The exterior is 2-storey with a regular 4-window front. The openings have brick segmental arches. There is a 19th-century 6-panel door with a 19th-century 20-pane hornless sash to the left and a 20th-century 24-pane horned sash to the right. The first floor has four 3-over 6-pane sashes. A 20th-century slate-hung extension to the left contains garage doors. A pointed dressed stone relieving arch to the earlier structure is visible on the rear left of the rear wing near the junction with the front range.

Internally, the earlier structure is now heated by a side lateral stack with a 20th-century fireplace, though it is uncertain whether the tower was originally heated. There appear to be the remains of a second flue in the south-west wall. The first floor joists comprise seven massive roughly cut serpentine beams. The front right hand room contains a high-quality circa mid-18th-century timber carved chimney-piece.

Adjacent to the farmhouse is a barn (not included in the listing) with two raised cruck blades showing evidence of earlier threaded purlins and morticed collars, now removed. Although probably soot-blackened, the two trusses appear to have been reset. Sedding suggested this barn may have been a chapel, though little evidence survives to confirm this.

Park was the seat of the Peverell family, later passing to the Bassets, Bottreaux, Opie and Hickes families. It was purchased during the reign of Anne by Sir John Molesworth.