Bidwell Barton Farmhouse

Bidwell Barton Farmhouse is a large farmhouse, dating from the late 16th century, which has been divided into two separate houses. It was extensively altered in the mid-19th century. The farmhouse is constructed of plastered stone or cob, with 20th-century brick stacks rising from a concrete-tile roof (formerly thatched). It has a gable-ended plan originally comprising three rooms and a through-passage, with an additional room on the right (north-east). The building is two storeys high with attics. A 20th-century open porch with a tiled lean-to roof shelters a fine late 16th or early 17th century oak door within a matching moulded frame. Two 16-pane sash windows on the left, from the conversion of original service rooms into a drawing room, are 19th century. A smaller sash window with glazing bars is located in the hall, and a 20-light sash window sits above the porch. Casement windows dating from around 1980 are found in the inner room and three other chambers. The hall window is flanked by medieval-style buttresses of volcanic ashlar; the right buttress is gabled. These buttresses were likely added in the mid-19th century to support the building after the removal of a lateral stack. Other stacks were also altered in the 19th century, and the interior features 19th and 20th-century fittings that conceal earlier 16th-century features.