Besshill Farmhouse

Besshill Farmhouse is a farmhouse that likely dates back to 1684, as indicated by a datestone, and has undergone significant alterations in the late 19th century. It is constructed of stone rubble with some cob and features a slate roof with brick stacks at the gable ends and an axial brick stack. The layout consists of a three-room and cross-passage plan, with the hall stack positioned against a wide cross-passage that contains a staircase and a passage leading to a rear dairy outshut. The lower end is located to the left. There is a shallow projecting stair turret at the rear of the inner room, which was divided axially until around the 1950s, with the smaller rear room used for cheese-making. The gable end stack appears to have been added in the late 19th century, along with the rebuilding of the front wall of the hall and inner room. Solid cob and stone partitions extend to the apex of the roof on the lower side of the cross-passage, and to the first floor only between the hall and inner room.

The farmhouse has two storeys and a five-window range with irregular fenestration from the 19th and 20th centuries. There are two-light casements with two panes per light on each floor to the left of a 20th-century addition, and a two-light casement above a small 1684 date plaque over a plank door. To the right, there are three two-light casements, with the leftmost being from the 20th century and the others from the 19th century, featuring eight panes per light above a three-light hall window and a two-light window to the inner room, both with cambered brick arches. The dairy outshut and inner room stair turret at the rear also have slate roofs.

Inside, the narrow lower end has two chamfered axial ceiling beams, one of which has scroll stops above a deep projecting chimney-breast. The hall features a single scroll-stopped chamfered axial ceiling beam, and a 20th-century fireplace may conceal the original lintel. There is a two-panelled door between the hall and inner room, and the axial ceiling beam in the inner room has been cased in. The roof trusses were replaced in the 19th century, except for a single 17th-century truss over the hall near the axial stack, which originally had trenched purlins. There are no signs of smoke-blackening.