Twelve Oaks Farmhouse And Oak Arch To The Rear

This is a 16th-century farmhouse with alterations from the 17th century, and further changes and a re-roof in the late 19th century. It is constructed of roughcast over stone rubble and cob, with a crested slate roof, a ridge stack to the right of the passage, an axial stack to the rear right, and a ridge stack to the rear wing. The farmhouse follows a three-unit through-passage plan, featuring a late 17th or 18th-century two-storey rear wing and a single-storey lean-to situated at an angle to the left.

The front of the building presents a two-storey, four-window facade. It has late 19th and 20th-century two and three-light casement windows on the first floor, a 20th-century window to the ground floor on the left, a 17th-century four-light stone mullioned window to the right of the porch, and a late 19th-century four-light window to the far right. The porch features a 16th-century sandstone architrave with rounded arrises and stylized oak leaves to the spandrels of a semicircular arch; pintles indicate a former door. A hip-topped buttress in two stages is centered on the facade. The rear wing has 19th-century casement windows.

Inside, the porch has a 16th-century round-arched doorway with a 20th-century door. The central room contains an open fire, backing onto the passage, with a granite lintel and full-depth jambs. The chimney breast’s plasterwork displays the date "1624," the initials “IB” and “MB,” and a design of pomegranates and serpents below a frieze. Two ovolo-moulded axial beams are present; the rear beam, above the fire, has a thinner beam to the rear (likely belonging to a rear passage now separated by a 19th or 20th-century stud wall), with a section of an early 17th-century carved plaster frieze. This is open to the rear wing, which has a stop-chamfered cross beam. The room on the far right has an early 18th-century dentil cornice; an early 18th-century surround frames an open fire to the rear. A straight staircase from the early 19th century is located to the rear right of the rear passage (within the recess of the open fire in the right-hand room). An early 16th or 17th-century oak newel sits at the top of the staircase. Windows on the front right have panelled shutters. The roof is not accessible.

Attached to the rear wing is a 16th or 17th-century wide oak semicircular arch, cut partly into the lintel and pegged to shaped jambs that curve in to complete the arch. This feature adds to the historical significance of the property.