Neopardy Cottages

Neopardy Cottages is a farmhouse with an adjoining cottage and bakehouse, originally dating to the early 16th century. It was extended and improved in the 17th century, subdivided and had a barn added in the 19th century, and modernised in the 20th century. The farmhouse is built of plastered cob on rubble footings, with cob and rubble stacks topped with 20th-century brick, and has a wheat reed thatched roof.

Originally a three-room-and-through-passage house with a service room at the east end, a two-room cottage was added to the projecting inner room, followed by a single-room bakehouse to create a long frontage. A 19th-century barn was built behind the service room, and an open-fronted store was built across the back of the cottage, forming a small rear courtyard. A massive lateral stack is located at the rear of the hall, another to the front of the cottage, and a bakehouse stack projects from the left gable end.

The building is now two storeys and has an irregular eight-window front. The four right-hand windows, which project slightly from the left front, form the original farmhouse section. These windows are likely from the 18th century and are timber, flat-faced mullion windows with internal beading, pegged frames, and some include vertical iron bars; all have 20th-century glazing. 19th- and 20th-century casements are located on the left. Most first-floor windows are half dormers, with those above the hall and inner room having gabled roofs. Doors are all 20th-century replacements. A glass door on the right provides access to the original through passage and a 20th-century oak panelled door leads to the inner room, with a thatched hood on posts. A volcanic ashlar stack projecting from the cottage retains the original chimney shaft and moulded coping, as well as a 19th-century oven projection. The roof is hipped to the right and gabled to the left.

At the rear, a bee-bole is visible on the hall, and the cottage wing includes a 17th-century oak two-light mullioned window on the west side. Internally, the service end was refurbished in the 19th century, and the barn has been incorporated into the house. The head of the passage-hall screen is exposed and the hall has a massive stone fireplace with a replacement lintel and a 19th-century oven. The smoke-blackened roof and side-pegged jointed cruck truss over the hall demonstrate it was originally open and heated by an open hearth fire. A full-height cob crosswall is located at the upper end of the hall, and another, formerly a gable end and blind until the 20th century, is present in the cottage. The front cottage room features a step-stopped chamfered beam and a volcanic ashlar fireplace with an oak lintel and chamfered surround, probably dating to the late 16th century. The bakehouse, beyond another cob crosswall, also has a step-stopped beam, along with a 17th-century fireplace, its oak lintel chamfered with scroll stops, and a large bread oven.