Bishopsleigh Farmhouse

Bishopsleigh Farmhouse is a farmhouse dating from the late 16th to early 17th century, and possibly earlier. It is constructed of plastered cob on rubble footings, with rubble stacks topped by 19th and 20th-century brick, and a slate roof that was formerly thatch. The house has a large three-room-and-through-passage plan and faces south, with a service room located at the left (west) end. There is an axial hall stack backing onto the passage and a projecting gable-end stack for the inner room. A rear block is positioned at right angles to the back of the inner room. The building is two storeys high and features an irregularly arranged six-window front, which includes PVC windows with glazing bars installed around 1983. The passage door is located left of centre, and the roof is gable-ended. The lower section of the hall chimney shaft is plastered but appears to be the original stone shaft. The left (west) end wall was partly rebuilt in the 20th century. On the rear elevation, there is a 17th-century oak three-light window with chamfered mullions above a 19th-century passage door. The rear block includes a converted cider house with external stone steps leading to a former apple store. The interior has been superficially modernised in the late 19th and 20th centuries, with beams boxed in and fireplaces blocked. However, many early features likely remain hidden behind the plasterwork. The through-passage is cobbled, and the service room has an exposed early to mid-17th-century chamfered cross beam with keeled lozenge stops. The roof has not been inspected.