Planned Farmyard At Wellparks

This planned farmyard, dating to circa 1840, was created as part of the Downes estate. It features a double-courtyard layout with a smaller north yard. The buildings are constructed using Flemish bond brick on local volcanic trap footings, with slate roofs.

The South Range includes an 8-bay linhay with weatherboarding below the loft and large chamfered posts supporting the bays. It has a king post and strut roof; some of the struts are missing or were never fitted. Adjacent is a 9-bay linhay, similar in design, with a 20th-century addition on the front to the north. Beyond this is a 2-storey brick building with brick-coped gables, likely a granary, featuring a segmental-headed doorway into the yard and a loft door. The north range includes pigsties with brick walls and a monopitch pantile roof, with a rounded corner. The east range incorporates an archway from the lane into the lower yard and a 4-bay barn with opposed doorways and brick cheeks. To the north of the barn stands a 5-bay stable with a door to the left, four ground-floor windows, a central loft door, and four first-floor windows.

The North Yard has a 2-bay open-fronted linhay on the east side. A 3-storey block forms the north range and is built into the slope of the land. At the rear (north) of this block are the remains of a horse engine house with granite columns. The ground floor of the front elevation has two windows at the left end, four segmental-headed doorways, and a pair of storeys of doors and windows above. A slot in the east end of the barn indicates a shaft for powering machinery, presumed to have been driven by steam or petrol. This is a particularly large and elaborate planned farmyard, uncommon in Devon.