Whitewalls Farmhouse, Outbuildings To Rear And Garden Wall To Front Left And Right And To Rear Right

Whitewalls Farmhouse, along with its outbuildings and garden walls, likely originated in the late 18th century, although earlier elements may exist. The building is constructed from granite ashlar and stone rubble, with a slate roof featuring gable ends. Stone rubble stacks are located on the left-hand gable and to the right of the centre of the main range.

The building’s layout is complex, appearing as a single-depth house with a rear extension and further outbuildings. The main range comprises a house of at least two rooms, with the entrance on the rear elevation leading directly into a large hall kitchen heated by a left-hand gable stack. An axial stack heats the smaller room to the right. Adjacent to this room is an integral farm building, possibly a stable or shippon with a loft above, accessible by a rear staircase; this appears contemporary with the house and always used for agricultural purposes with a separate entrance. The house may have extended further to the left, although the front wall is currently a façade with rear steps leading up a steep bank to a field above. A 19th-century outshot extends to the rear, accompanied by several small outbuildings enclosed to the right by an ashlar granite wall.

The front elevation has a regular three-window arrangement with six windows in total – two illuminating rooms on the ground floor, three above, and a right-hand window illuminating the loft above the stable. The front wall continues to the left, forming a façade and including a row of pigeon holes. The rear elevation has a rear-left entrance with a possibly reused chamfered granite lintel, and a rear-right entrance to the loft with granite and stone steps.

Inside, the left-hand room has a fireplace partially blocked by a Rayburn stove, while the right-hand room features a 20th-century tiled grate. The interior also includes 19th-century ceiling beams and late 18th and 19th-century timber partitions around a simple softwood staircase built in the late 19th century. The roof structure above the stable and loft appears to be from the early 19th century and features principals with lap-jointed and pegged apices.

A retaining wall to the steep front-left bank is constructed from large blocks of granite ashlar, and a wall of granite ashlar extends along the front and rear of the right-hand gable end. The property has historical connections to religious meetings; a Bryanite meeting was held there in 1821, and preaching occurred at the farm for over forty years, as recorded in the Bible Christian Magazine of 1876.