Black Barn Cottage

Black Barn Cottage is a detached house located on the west side of High Street in Steeple Ashton. It dates back to the 15th century, with alterations made in the 16th century and a refronting in the early 19th century. The building features square-panelled timber-framing set on a stone plinth, with short buttresses and brick nogging. The front is rendered, and it has a stone slate roof with brick stacks at the rear.

The main range consists of five bays, with a two-bay open hall at the south end and a 16th-century parlour wing to the west. The house is two stories high and has three windows on the front. To the right of the center is a six-panelled door with a flat stone hood supported by brackets, accompanied by a 12-pane sash window to the right and two sashes to the left. The first floor features three 9-pane sash windows. The right return of the house is timber-framed with a blocked doorway and a single-light casement window on the first floor. The left return has 20th-century casements on the ground and attic floors, rendered up to the top of the first floor.

At the rear, the main range has a large stone and brick stack added to the hall. The rear wing has a dressed stone ground floor and a timber-framed first floor, with a 20th-century conservatory on the south side and either 2-light or single-light casements.

Inside, the hall range has a 16th-century inserted ceiling with moulded cross beams, an inserted lateral stack with a timber lintel on stone jambs, and an exposed roof with a moulded arch-braced collar truss. The windbraces are chamfered, with two tiers of purlins, although the lower tier has been removed. Smoke-blackening appears to have been removed as well. The house underwent restoration by Lady Long in the 20th century. The parlour wing features a restored Tudor-arched stone fireplace on the ground floor, a fine moulded cross-beam ceiling with exposed joists, and a Tudor-arched stone doorway between the hall and parlour, likely a former external door. The first-floor bedroom has similar moulded cross beams and a Tudor-arched stone fireplace, with an attic above that has plain collar and tie-beam roof trusses and windbracing to the purlins. Black Barn Cottage is a good example of a small house with high-quality 16th-century alterations in Steeple Ashton.