Bishop'S Cottage And Old Bishop'S Farmhouse

Bishop's Cottage and Old Bishop's Farmhouse are two dwellings, originally a single 16th-century farmhouse. The construction is of roughcast cob on stone footings, with the walls raised using wattle and plaster. The roof is slate. The original layout was a 3-room through-passage plan, with the service wing situated to the right of the passage. Bishop’s Cottage occupies the service end and the hall, while Old Bishop’s Farmhouse occupies the inner room, which has been extended. A continuous outshut was added in the 19th century. An axial stack backs onto the passage, heating the hall. The service end and the inner room were originally heated by rear lateral stacks, now located within the outshut. A later stack on the left-hand end heats the service end extension. All stacks have brick shafts. A winder staircase is contained within the width of the hall fireplace to the rear of the house. The building is two storeys high. The front elevation has a four-window range. A three-light casement window is positioned on the projecting higher end extension; the other windows are of 2, 3, and 5 lights, with some leaded lights and ring catches. The ground floor features three three-light casement windows, with the window in the hall being a late 20th-century replacement, and a slate-roofed, glazed porch to the former through-passage. At the rear, the outshut has a catslide roof, with late 20th-century doors and windows. Inside the hall, there are two cross ceiling beams with composite moulded chamfers (four rolls and one cavetto) which appear to be of 16th-century origin. One beam is positioned above the massive lintel of the fireplace; it may suggest the service end was originally jettied over an open hall, or more likely, the erection of a two-storey dwelling with an open hall, with the stack and stairs all being part of a single build. There are remains of a cranked doorway lintel from the passage to the service end. The service end fireplace is blocked. The roof structure includes two jointed crucks, one near the hall stack and one at the service end, both with clean timbers; the former lacks its lower blade; a later roof has been added above.