Gatehouse To Leigh Barton Farm

The gatehouse, dating from the 15th century, forms part of the Leigh Barton Farm complex. It is built of thin-bedded coursed schist with a slate roof. The gatehouse is two storeys high and is flanked by boundary walls. The road-facing elevation has a long section of blank wall containing a pair of plank doors set within a pointed arch with a double chamfer and flush voussoirs. Above the doors is an upper chamber with a two-light mullion and transom window featuring uncusped heads and a moulded stopped drip. This drip continues as a continuous moulding forming the lower section of the steep, weathered coping on the flanking screen walls. The upper level has a coped verge and a pyramidal capping to a stack on the left side. The inner front has a wide round arched opening with a chamfer, below a two-light cusped window with a drip, similar to the outer face. Above is a moulded string which becomes a rich moulded, wide corbel course to the right, over a set-back section of wall. A small stair light is located on the right return. The flanking walls incorporate a drip course under the parapet; on the right, putlog holes or rafter recesses are visible, while on the left, a large rubble raking buttress supports the outer end and connects to North Comery Farmhouse. Inside, the upper chamber has a fireplace and a garderobe accessible via a stone spiral staircase. The roof was rebuilt in the 1950s.