Farm Building South West Of Churston Court Farmhouse, Including Gate Piers And Wall

A mid-19th century farm building complex situated south west of Churston Court Farmhouse, incorporating gate piers and a wall. The buildings are constructed of stone rubble with some red sandstone, and have slate roofs. The layout is a U-shaped range creating a walled courtyard to the north-east. The north-west range originally contained stables and a cider store with lofts, a wool chamber, and a granary, accessible via two flights of stone steps. A south-west range includes lofted shippons with a root house projecting along Churston Road, outside the courtyard. The south-east range features a pound house adjacent to the road, and, closest to the farmhouse, an open-fronted cart shed and trap house with its back to the enclosed yard. The stable range exhibits a distinct architectural quality, highlighted by a gabled centre projection featuring red sandstone quoins. This section has two doorways on the ground floor and a loading door above, all with slightly curved arches constructed of alternating limestone and sandstone voussoirs and jambs. A ventilation slit with similar jambs is located in the gable. Windows flanking the doorway have a similar appearance, with recessed sections containing stone staircases. A gabled projection at the right-hand end originally housed a cider store below a granary, with the wool chamber located at the head of the steps. The shippon range is in a matching style, with a gabled projection at the left-hand end, and nearby a section of the pound house which includes an entrance to the apple loft. The pound house projects slightly to the south-east and mirrors the stables and shippon in its elevation to Churston Road. A square gate pier with a low pyramidal cap, forming one side of the original farmstead entrance, abuts the south-east gable wall. The cart shed has two stone walls faced with red sandstone and three red brick piers, likely late 19th-century replacements. Internally, limited original detail remains, but fittings for an apple crusher are present in the pound house, and one wooden partition exists in the stables. The courtyard wall has stones on edge with chamfered coping. Two square gate piers are present, the one on the right retaining its pyramidal cap. Several staddle-stones, reportedly originally from a rickyard behind the stables, are now used as garden ornaments.