Buckland Barton

House. 16th and 17th century with 20th century alterations. Whitewashed rendered stone rubble with an asbestos slate roof, formerly thatched, hipped at the south end of the 3-storey block and at the end of the 2-storey block, gabled at the north end. The building has projecting lateral and end stacks to the 3-storey block and a projecting end stack to the 2-storey block.

The house is arranged in an L-plan: a single-depth 3-storey block to the north-west, probably originally 3 rooms wide but re-partitioned, with a 2-storey block to the south-east containing a 19th century entrance passage, stair and one heated room. The position of the original entrance is unclear.

The south-east entrance elevation is asymmetrical and 2 to 3 storeys, comprising the end of the 3-storey block to the left and the 2-storey block to the centre and right. A 20th century gabled porch on posts projects from the 2-storey block to the left, with a 20th century front door and a 19th century rectangular fanlight. The 3-storey block features a set of impressive mullioned windows with rendered stone surrounds. The ground floor has a 6-light window with moulded mullions, a king mullion, hoodmould and label stops, glazed with square leaded panes. The first and second floors each have 5-light mullioned windows with moulded mullions and segmental headed lights, the centre light of the first floor window being blocked. The 2-storey block has three 20th century first-floor casements and one ground-floor 20th century casement.

The left return of the 3-storey block is blind to the right of the stack, with a 20th century door to the left. It has three 1-light ground-floor windows, one 2-light 18th century casement with square leaded panes on the first floor, and one 4-light window on the second floor. The rear elevation has 20th century casements to the 3-storey block, a 2-light 18th century casement with square leaded panes to the 2-storey block, and a 2-storey flat-roofed 20th century addition in the angle between the blocks.

The interior retains two important early 17th century decorated plaster ceilings in the 3-storey block, though both are truncated by new partitions and incomplete. The ground-floor room to the left of the entrance, lit by the 6-light mullioned window, has been subdivided but retains parts of an ornamental plaster ceiling including a plastered-over axial beam, parts of a frieze and rib patterns. A fine 18th century nowy-headed china cupboard with glazed doors and a key block is set into the dividing wall with the present stair. The first-floor room above, also subdivided, has the remains of a second good plaster ceiling which includes an axial beam with plaster strapwork and a central motif of three fishes. The ground-floor room to the right of the entrance hall contains an open fireplace with a hollow-chamfered granite lintel, the jambs either concealed or replaced with no exposed carpentry. The two other ground-floor rooms in the 3-storey block have chamfered cross beams and have been re-partitioned to give an axial passage.

The roof of the 3-storey block is of early 17th century character but unusual design, comprising pegged collar rafter trusses mortised at the apex with mortised collars and threaded purlins, with mortises for second collars in the rafters. These lower collars are missing and have been replaced with vertical posts on the tie beams. The attic space appears to have been used as accommodation and the trusses may have been adapted to give extra headroom. A history of the house by P.R. Whiteaway, held by the owner, suggests that the plaster ceilings may have been installed circa 1610 during the residence of William Hockmore (1581–1626).