Beara Farmhouse

Beara Farmhouse is a house dating back to the 15th century, with substantial remodelling in the early 17th century. It is constructed of colourwashed slatestone rubble with cob to the rear, featuring a gabled slate roof and large external stone stacks to the right gable, a rear lateral stack and a rear external stack to the rear of the rear left wing.

The original plan consisted of a three-unit layout, with a through-passage to the left of a central open hall, flanked by a service end to the left and an inner room to the right. The hall stack and floor were added in the early 17th century, alongside the remodelling of much of the interior structure excluding the hall roof. An early 17th-century rear service outshut, containing stairs, was also built, along with a later 17th-century rear left wing, and an early 19th-century wing set at a right angle to the front left.

The front facade presents two storeys and a three-window range. A lean-to hood covers a restored 17th-century ovolo-moulded doorframe with urn stops to the left. The windows are largely 1980s replacements, with timber lintels, and are either two- or three-light wood casements. The lower, two-storey wing to the left has two similar windows and a timber lintel over a 20th-century door.

Inside, the house retains 19th-century panelled and plank doors. The hall features a rare lime ash floor and is characterised by 17th-century chamfered ogee-stopped beams. A 17th-century double-chamfered doorframe with urn stops is located to the right of the open fireplace, which itself has a stop-chamfered bressummer. Another 17th-century doorframe with pyramidal stops provides access to the inner room. The inner room contains a plain beam, 19th and 20th-century joists, and a fine early 17th-century heraldic achievement with strapwork flanked by caryatids, set above an open fireplace with an ovolo-moulded architrave. The rear outshut includes a 19th-century dog-leg staircase and a 17th-century chamfered doorframe to the service room. The service end to the left retains chamfered beams. On the first-floor landing to the rear are two 17th-century chamfered doorframes with bar stops. A first-floor room to the right is notable for its fine early 17th-century plasterwork, including a moulded cornice, vine frieze, rosettes to gable ends, figures of Adam and Eve with the serpent and Tree of Knowledge to the left gable, a Tree of Life to the right gable, and a heraldic achievement in a strapwork overmantel panel above a fireplace with a stop-chamfered bressummer and a late 18th-century hob grate. Curved feet of the principal rafters are visible on the 2-bay roof. The house also contains a 15th-century three-bay arch-braced hall roof with trenched purlins and chamfered detail. An early 17th-century room to the right, originally comprising two bays, displays early 17th-century plasterwork with rosettes set in linked lozenge panels, a vine frieze, and remnants of moulded cornicing. A 19th-century service stair with winders is located to the left. The front left wing has a three-bay 19th-century roof. The property represents a significant example of late medieval architecture with exceptionally fine plasterwork.