Court Barn

Court Barn is a former manor house, with origins in the early 17th century, possibly incorporating earlier fabric. It was remodelled in the late 17th or early 18th century, extended in the mid to late 19th century, and underwent internal alterations in the late 20th century.

The building is constructed of local shale rubble with some limestone and quartz, partly rendered at the rear. The ground floor front windows have red brick arches. The roof is covered with slate and features gabled ends. Large rendered gable end chimney stacks with tapered tops rise from both ends, with the smaller right-hand stack projecting slightly.

The late 17th to early 18th-century remodelling established a 2-room plan with a wide central entrance passage. The lower room to the left was likely the hall, with the parlour to the right; both rooms were heated from gable end stacks. Coeval with or slightly later than this remodelling, a central rear wing (probably a kitchen) was added, featuring a gable end stack and what is likely a stair turret in the right-hand angle. A 2-storey outshut (probably 18th century) was added to the back of the right-hand end, and a single-storey lean-to was constructed at the rear of the left end. In the mid to late 19th century, a 2-storey single-room addition was built at the end of the rear wing, said to have been a dairy. At the lower left end is an outbuilding, probably a late 17th-century addition, in which living accommodation was extended, probably in the 18th century. The house underwent significant internal alteration in the late 20th century, when the stairs were removed from the stair tower and a new staircase was inserted into the rear wing.

The exterior is 2 storeys with a symmetrical 4-window range on the front. The windows include 3-light casements with glazing bars; the two on the right of the first floor are early 19th century, whilst the others have been replaced, probably in the 20th century. The ground floor left-hand windows are tripartite sashes with horns, comprising 4 panes flanked by 2 panes. All front window openings have slate cills, and the ground floor windows have segmental red brick arches. A central doorway has a 6-panel door with glazed top panels and flush bottom panels, with a rectangular overlight. The doorway is sheltered by a mid to late 19th-century stone rubble gabled porch with a segmental brick doorway. A straight masonry joint on the front wall to the right of the doorway suggests rebuilding of this end. The long gable-ended rear wing has a lower roof covering a 19th-century extension at its end. On the left side, a 2-storey lean-to (probably a former stair tower) occupies the angle, with another 2-storey lean-to in the angle behind the higher end. At the opposite rear end is a small single-storey lean-to, converted into a porch. At the lower left-hand end is an outbuilding (roofless at the time of survey in 1986). A doorway in the lower gable end of the main house at first-floor level has a chamfered beam with bar stops reused as a lintel. In the outbuilding, a fireplace backing onto the lower end of the house features a chamfered and stopped cambered lintel. A blocked 3-light chamfered wooden mullion window is present in the outbuilding's front wall, which also has chamfered cross beams.

Interior features include chamfered unstopped cross beams on the ground floor ceiling of the main range. The rear wing has chamfered cross beams with ogee stops and a large kitchen fireplace with a chamfered cambered wooden lintel with run-out stops. First-floor partitions have 18th-century moulded door frames with 20th-century doors. A closet in the lower left-hand room beside the stack has a 2-panel bolection-moulded door. The ground floor left room retains fielded panel window shutters.

The roof over the main range has been largely replaced, except for the remains of 2 trusses with mortices for threaded purlins and morticed collars; the feet of the principals are set in the tops of the walls. Two later stud partitions stand beside these trusses. The roof over the rear wing has straight principal rafters with mortices for threaded purlins.