Barton Farmhouse

Barton Farmhouse is a house, likely with origins in a monastic building, dating from the early 16th century. It was substantially refurbished and rearranged around 1850. The house is constructed of plastered stone rubble, with some 19th-century brickwork. Chimney stacks include 19th-century brick and some Rolle Estate chimney pots, and the roof is slate. The house has a double-depth plan, facing south-west, with three main rooms on the front and narrower service rooms to the rear. A cross passage connects the centre and left rooms to the staircase at the rear. The left room has an end stack, and a large axial stack sits between the other two rooms. The right room originally served as the kitchen. A low range of stores is attached at right angles to the rear of the left end, with a further extension added in 1985. A contemporary porch is situated on the right end of the front. The house is two stories high, with an irregular four-window front featuring 19th-century casement windows with glazing bars, and a matching front door positioned left of centre. The roof is half-hipped at both ends.

The interior largely reflects the 19th-century refurbishment, with much of the joinery detail consistent with the mid-19th century and a king post truss roof. However, evidence of the original house remains on the first floor and in the roof, including stone rubble walls surviving to their full height on the long sides, and the gable of the north-west end. The walls were raised by approximately 2 metres in the 19th century. The original five-bay roof also survives, though the trusses have been cut off just below collar level. These are substantial cruck trusses exhibiting remains of chamfered archbraces and windbraces. Other contemporary features may be concealed within the outer walls. The fireplace in the middle room may be earlier but is now blocked by a 19th-century replacement; the original was apparently very large. The kitchen fireplace, backing onto this one, is 19th century, constructed of brick and featuring a reused oak beam as the lintel.

Barton Farmhouse is noteworthy for the partial survival of the early 16th-century building. The quality of the carpentry suggests a house, though evidence of smoke-blackening is lacking. It is possible the building was originally a barn belonging to the monastery that occupied the site of the adjacent churchyard prior to the Dissolution.