Poole Barton Including Adjoining Wall To North

House. Late 15th century and early 16th century with major 16th and 17th century improvements and additions. Plastered cob on rubble footings with stone stacks, all topped with 19th century brick. Slate roof, formerly thatch. The north-facing main block has a 3-room-and-through passage plan with the inner room at the right (western) end. A 16th century kitchen and service wing projects at right angles to the rear of the service room, and a late 17th century crosswing projects forward from the service (eastern) end, comprising 2 rooms with a central staircase. Lateral stacks project from the front of the hall and inner room, and an axial stack serves the service room (in the former gable end). The kitchen and service wing has a large stack projecting from the gable end and a small 19th century lateral stack. The crosswing has 2 rear lateral stacks. The building is now 2 storeys throughout.

The main range has exposed volcanic rubble to the first floor and plastered cob above. A regular 5-window front is interrupted by the hall and inner room stacks, both retaining their original stone chimney shafts extended with 19th century brick. The passage door to the left of the hall stack has a late 17th century bead-moulded oak door frame and contemporary plank door with applied pieces creating 2 external panels. A small hood on shaped brackets, probably also late 17th century, sits above. To the left (service room) are 2 19th century sixteen-pane sashes, and to the right (hall and inner room) are 2 19th century twenty-four pane sashes. The first floor has a central 2-light casement; the rest are 3-lights. All are late 17th century wooden casements with flat-faced mullions and slight internal chamfers, fitted with iron casements and rectangular panes of leaded glass. Some original glass survives, and some windows have vertical bars and ornate iron catches. The roof is gable-ended to the right.

The front wing has exposed rubble below plastered cob. Its 3-window west front features a 19th century six-panel door in a late 17th century bead-moulded frame with a similar hood to the main range. A 19th century 16-pane sash sits to the left, and a 20th century window at the end blocks a former service door. To the right is a late 17th century 3-light casement. Two more late 17th century casements appear on the first floor (a third at the right is blocked) and another in the end wall above a 19th century casement. All late 17th century casements share the same features as those of the main range. The roof is hipped at the front end.

The kitchen and service block has an irregular 3-window front of 19th century casements, few of which are glazed. A late 16th to early 17th century oak segmental doorframe occupies the centre. Two rows of pigeon holes sit to the right of centre under the eaves.

Interior

The hall of the main block contains the earliest surviving remains: 2 late 15th century and early 16th century possibly jointed cruck trusses with evidence of arch braces and windbraces. At each apex are a yoke and setting for a square set ridge (Alcock's type H). The roof is smoke-blackened, indicating an original house heated by an open hearth fire and divided by low partitions. The passage-hall screen may be original—an oak plank-and-muntin screen. The passage chamber jetties over it into the hall. The upper passage screen is a later 16th century plank-and-muntin screen, chamfered and step-stopped on both sides with contemporary large framing above. The hall was eventually floored in the mid-17th century with an elaborately moulded axial beam with bar runout stops. The hall fireplace is blocked. The inner room has a plain replacement cross beam and a 20th century fireplace. A late 16th century stair turret to the rear has a newel stair with solid oak steps and a roof over the inner room, probably of the same date. A 17th century roof covers the service room, which appears to have been remodelled in the 19th century. A late 16th to early 17th century oak doorframe, given a rebated ogee mould with roll stops, leads from the passage to the service room.

The rear block dates mostly from the 16th century. Its 3-bay roof is carried on side-pegged jointed cruck trusses, and the 2 rooms are divided by a full-height partition comprising an unchamfered oak plank-and-muntin screen with large framing above. The front room is floored by a chamfered and step-stopped beam, but the rear room appears to have been open to the roof, which is heavily smoke-blackened. The kitchen fireplace with remains of a walk-in smoking chamber probably dates to the 17th century but was much rebuilt in the 19th century.

The front wing appears to have been added as a complete late 17th century house. It features a central dog-leg stair with square-sectioned newel posts, moulded closed string, turned balusters, flat handrail with straight ramp and wreath. Most rooms are modernised, but some late 17th century features remain, including a large cupboard in the rear chamber with round-headed panelled doors hung on H-hinges with trefoil terminals, and an adjacent powder room.

Setting

Rubble walls enclose the front garden at each end of the front, including recessed quadrant walls to plain granite gate-posts. To the left is a mounting block with granite steps. An adjoining wall to the north is also included in the listing.

This is an interesting multi-phase building with high-quality features from most periods.