Weach Barton Farmhouse

Weach Barton Farmhouse is probably of early 16th-century origin, with extensions in the 17th century and remodelling in the 19th century, and later 20th-century alterations. The farmhouse is constructed of painted rendered stone and cob, with a slate roof, partly asbestos slate and partly bitumenised, with gable ends. A hipped slate roof covers the rear left wing. The building has an axial rendered stack with a tapered cap and a brick stack at the right end. A stone rubble stack is located to the right-hand rear parlour wing. The plan is based around a three-sided rear courtyard.

The front range's original layout is obscured by the loss of part of an earlier range at the left end and 19th-century remodelling at the right end. The axial stack heated a possible former hall, which backs onto a through-passage with smaller rooms to its left and beyond the hall to the right, the latter containing a staircase. There is a further wide entrance hall with a staircase and a room to its right in the 19th-century remodelled range at the right end. A rear parlour wing is situated to the right, and a lofted outbuilding, possibly originally a cider house, is located at the rear left side, both at right angles to the front range, with a length of cob and stone rubble wall enclosing the rear courtyard.

The building is two storeys high with a five-window range. The fenestration has been altered in the late 20th century, except at the right end, which has a tripartite sash window of 12 panes with a 4-paned sidelight. A 19th-century porch canopy is supported on moulded timber brackets. The panelled front door has a glazed upper half with four panes. A 20th-century porch and lean-to are present at the left end.

A rear wall continues the former line of the front range to the left, forming the gable end wall of the rear outbuilding. This wall contains a three-light timber mullion window, probably from the early 16th century, with semi-circular arched heads to the lights and decorative spandrels.

Inside, the axial stack features a thin, chamfered fireplace lintel with scroll-stopped ends. The rear parlour wing contains fine 17th-century ceiling beams and bressumers with hollowed embellishments and run-out stops. A small chamber at the head of the stairs retains one side of a 17th-century plaster ceiling decorated with five small cartouches spaced at intervals. The roof structure is mainly 19th century, with pegged collars, but one probable early 17th-century roof truss survives over the suggested hall, with trenched purlins and thin cranked, morticed, and tenoned collars. There is no evidence of smoke blackening. While the front elevation windows have been replaced, the window openings have not been altered, preserving much of the house’s 19th-century character. The rear elevation remains virtually unaltered since the 19th century.