The Barton Farmhouse

The Barton Farmhouse is a farmhouse dating from the early 16th century, with later improvements made in the 16th and 17th centuries, and it was renovated around 1960. The building is constructed of plastered cob on rubble footings, with rubble and brick stacks topped by plastered chimney shafts, and it has a slate roof that was originally thatched.

The house has a two-room plan and faces east, featuring a large stack that projects from the left (south) end and an axial stack in the right room. There is a central stair turret that projects to the rear, along with continuous outshots at the back, likely from the 17th or 18th century. The farmhouse is two storeys high and has an asymmetrical front with three windows, which are circa 1984 casements with glazing bars. The door is roughly central, and the roof is gable-ended. The plastered chimney shaft of the end stack, which includes a drip course and coping, is likely original.

Inside, the farmhouse reveals quality craftsmanship from various periods, with some features possibly concealed. The oldest visible feature is an early 16th-century side-pegged jointed cruck with chamfered arch braces and a yoke at the apex, which strengthens the notch for a trenched ridge (Alcock's Type L1). This feature likely remains from the original 16th-century hall and shows signs of smoke-blackening from an open hearth fire. The central truss is an early 17th-century side-pegged jointed cruck truss with a pegged dovetail lap-jointed collar. The lower sections of the left (southern) truss are boxed in, but the upper part appears to be late 17th-century, featuring a simple pegged lap-jointed collar with principals that curve together at the apex.

In the left southern room, there are two early 17th-century beams that are soffit-chamfered with keeled step stops, and it is noted that the joists between them are scratch-moulded. The contemporary fireplace in this room is partly blocked, but enough remains exposed to show that it is built of volcanic ashlar, with an oak lintel that is ovolo-moulded and features exaggerated step stops with large inscribed spirals rising from the ends of the mouldings. The right room has a late 17th-century moulded plaster cornice and a blocked fireplace, which is said to be made of brick.