Ashill Court

Ashill Court is a farmhouse, likely dating from the late 16th century, with alterations and additions made in later centuries. It is built of roughcast cob on stone footings, with a thatched gable end roof. Originally a three-room, through-passage plan house, the lower end is to the left of the passage, and it was enlarged in the 17th or 18th century by the addition of a room at the higher end. The internal partition walls are constructed of cob. The roof space is inaccessible, suggesting the house could be even earlier. The entrance hall is heated by an axial stack backing onto the passage, with external end stacks, all featuring brick shafts. The inner room is unheated but was once heated by an end stack, now blocked. There are two sets of stairs: one in the main passage, which is of the 19th century but was removed from the service room around 1900; and another to the rear of the inner room, which now serves as a second entrance hall, after a front door was added in the mid-20th century.

The exterior front of the house features an early 19th-century four-light casement window to the hall, and a later three-light window to the higher-end extension. The second door (to the inner room) has an open timber porch. A right-hand external stack is constructed of stone with setoffs, and the left-hand stack is similar, with a bake oven bulge concealed within a shed. A first-floor four-light casement window, also from the 19th century, is present on this end. The rear of the house includes a 19th-century stone outshut containing a former dairy, with a slate and pantiled lean-to roof.

Inside, the service room has an axial beam and a half beam, both of which are chamfered and unstopped. The end fireplace lintel is also chamfered with scroll stops, and a fragment of 17th-century moulding above the lintel functions as a mantel shelf. The hall has one full and two half beams, chamfered with notched scroll stops. A small cupboard, likely dating from around 1700, has a depressed panel and butterfly hinges. The inner room features a deeply chamfered and unstopped axial ceiling beam. The higher-end extension also possesses an unstopped chamfered axial beam. Early 19th-century joinery is present throughout, including panelled doors and internal shutters. Two roof trusses (above the hall and inner room) appear to be jointed crucks, but are obscured by thick wallpaper.