Nymet Barton Farmhouse

Nymet Barton Farmhouse

A farmhouse dating from the 16th century with late 16th and 17th century improvements, refurbished and extended in the late 19th century. The building is constructed of plastered cob on rubble footings, with stone rubble stacks topped with 19th century brick; the roof is slate, though thatch was used before the late 19th century alterations.

The original plan comprised a 3-room-and-through-passage arrangement facing west, with a service room at the left (north) end. In the late 19th century the inner room end was rebuilt as a 2-room crosswing projecting front and back, creating a central entrance hall and stair that provided new principal rooms and a new south-facing front. The positioning of a secondary straight flight stair to the rear of the hall near the passage, alongside a curving alcove, suggests this marks the location of an early stair. The building has an end stack to the service room, an axial hall stack backing onto the hall, and each of the crosswing rooms has a rear lateral stack. Secondary outshots extend to the rear of the main block.

The building is 2 storeys. The main block presents a 4-window front with 19th and 20th century replacement casements with glazing bars; some older windows retain internal iron glazing bars and occasional panes of original glass. A late 19th century door to the passage sits left of centre, alongside a 20th century stone buttress. The roof is gable-ended to the left. The late 19th century crosswing is built slightly higher than the main block with a low pitch roof hipped at each end. The corners are finished with stucco quoins and the walls are incised as ashlar. The south front displays a symmetrical 3-window front of 6-pane sashes (with 2 more on the left west end) and a central 6-panel door with a 20th century hipped slate-roofed porch. Deep eaves rest on shaped brackets. The crosswing chimney shafts are of cream machine-brick and retain original 19th century chimney pots.

The interior demonstrates work of several periods, with a layout clearly of 16th century origin. On the lower side of the passage stands a full height cob crosswall which includes a 16th century oak doorframe, originally shoulder-headed but now square-headed. The service room contains a late 16th to early 17th century chamfered and pyramid-stopped axial beam. Its outer end is buried in the chimney breast of a secondary fireplace of unknown date. The left jamb is original granite but the right side is partly rebuilt in 19th century brick associated with the insertion of a bread oven; the contemporary lintel is a reused section of ceiling beam. The front wall includes a curious niche from which a channel leads outside; a local beekeeper has suggested it to be an internal beebole, and the external hole has a stone lower up, described as a 'landing platform'. Both service room and passage have pitched stone floors. The rear passage door is now blocked. The passage ceiling includes a roller for hanging slaughtered pigs.

The hall has a 3-bay ceiling carried on large 17th century crossbeams, soffit-chamfered with scroll stops. The large fireplace is built of squared blocks of granite, mudstone and volcanic stone, though the lintel is hidden by a 19th century chimney piece; the massive size of the lintel is visible at the side of the fireplace and it is probably 17th century in date. The hall stair features a small fixed pane window with a plain oak frame containing small rectangular panes of green-tinted leaded glass, probably 17th century. The roof is inaccessible but the bases of straight principals visible at the lower level suggest the survival of a 17th century A-frame truss roof. The crosswing contains late 19th century fittings.