Bunson Farmhouse

Bunson Farmhouse is a farmhouse of 17th-century origin, extensively remodelled in the early to mid 19th century with some 20th-century internal alterations. The building is constructed of rendered stone rubble and cob, with a slate roof with gable ends.

The house features chimneys of stone rubble with offsets and brick shafts at the left gable end, a brick stack at the right gable end, a rear lateral stone rubble hall stack with offsets, and a rendered stone rubble stack to the left end of the rear left-hand outshut.

The plan is essentially a 3-room and through-passage arrangement with a hall heated by the rear lateral stack and probably originally a kitchen beyond to the left of the passage, and a parlour to the right. A 17th-century 1½-storey outshut with external stone steps and no connecting doorways through to the main range stands to the rear of the right end. A stair turret positioned immediately to the left of the rear hall stack formerly had access from the rear of the hall, though this doorway is now blocked and access has been made through from the left-hand room. In the late 18th or early 19th century, the stair turret was enclosed by a 1½-storey kitchen outshut addition to the rear of the left end room. In the early to mid 19th century, an additional staircase was inserted into the through-passage, the house was refenestrated, the internal joinery was altered, a stack was inserted at the right gable end (the parlour originally apparently being unheated), and an additional direct front entrance was made into the left-hand end room. In the 20th century the house was divided into two occupations, with a partition wall inserted rising to the apex of the roof dividing the hall into two smaller rooms, the hall fireplace being blocked, and the partition on the hall side of the passage was removed.

Externally, the house is 2 storeys with an attic storey and has a 7-window range. The attic storey has two 6-paned sashes to the central two openings, the outer two openings being blocked. Otherwise, the early to mid 19th-century fenestration of 12-paned hornless sashes is entirely intact except to the first storey at the right end and the second ground floor window from the right end, which are 20th-century 2-light replacements. The through-passage doorway has a 19th-century doorcase with ovolo-moulded pilasters and brackets supporting an entablature with lozenge decoration, a 6-panelled door and panelled reveals. A similar but slightly smaller doorway gives access to the left-hand end room; this door is half-glazed with a 3-panelled base and overlight. A 17th-century 2-light ovolo mullion timber window is present to the ground floor of the rear right-hand outshut.

Internally, the left-hand end room features a deep chamfered cross ceiling beam with run-out stops. A 19th-century winder staircase rises to the attic storey in the rear stair turret, and a dog-leg staircase in the through-passage has stick balusters and a moulded handrail ramped up to turned newels. A late 19th-century marble chimneypiece with a decorative tiled surround is present in the room at the right end, and a chamber has a chimneypiece with a similar surround to the doorcases. Some raised and fielded 6-panelled doors survive to the upper storey, and most 19th-century joinery including doors, doorcases and panelled shutters survives. The roof structure has straight principals, lapped collars and purlins resting on backs, originally designed to take thatch with a 20th-century slate roof superimposed.