Blackalls

Blackalls is a house that likely dates from the 17th century or earlier. It is constructed of rendered cob and features a thatched roof that is gabled at the left end and hipped at the right end. The house has a left end stack with a brick shaft and a rear lateral stack also with a brick shaft. There is a rear wing that has a hipped thatched roof. The layout is probably that of a three-room and passage house, with the lower end on the left heated by the end stack, the hall heated by the rear lateral stack, and an unheated inner room on the right. A rear projection on the left may be a truncated lateral stack that could have heated the lower end before the end stack was added. The rear right wing, which adjoins the inner room, appears to be unheated, although a 1948 description mentions a "large external chimney." There is a single-storey lean-to at the rear of the main range. The house is two storeys high and has an asymmetrical three-window front, with the thatch eaves eyebrowed over the first-floor windows. To the left of centre, there is a shallow gabled porch with a tiled roof. The windows are casement style, with configurations of 2 lights featuring 2, 3, 6, and 8 panes. Access to the interior was not available at the time of the survey in 1985. The exterior remains largely unaltered by 20th-century changes, and there may be interesting internal features, including the possibility of medieval roof timbers. The building has group value with Spurway Farmhouse.