Lower Farm Farmhouse

Lower Farm Farmhouse is a farmhouse, likely dating to the late 16th century or earlier, with alterations made around the early 18th century. The construction is of whitewashed rendered cob and stone rubble, with a corrugated asbestos roof, previously thatched, and gabled at the ends. An axial stone rubble stack is present.

The original 16th-century layout was a two-room house with a baffle entry into a small lobby in front of the side wall of the chimney breast. The hall, situated on the left end, is larger than the unheated room to the right. Early 18th-century additions included a small kitchen at the left end, a gable-end stack transforming the original hall/kitchen into a hall/parlour, and a staircase inserted against the rear wall of the hall/parlour. The house was probably re-roofed at the same time, along with the addition of a woodstore with a granary above at the right end, and a rear left dairy under a lean-to roof. In the 20th century, the eaves were raised when the thatch was replaced with asbestos.

The two-story farmhouse has an asymmetrical two-window front. A gabled porch with a slated roof is positioned on the right. The ground floor hall window has a timber lintel and a late 19th/early 20th-century four-light casement with two panes per light. A small rectangular window to the left of the porch may be a former stair light. Two first-floor windows are present, both late 19th/early 20th-century casements with four and three lights, respectively, and two panes per light. The early 18th-century kitchen at the left end has a slate roof, a separate front entrance, a first-floor two-light casement with two panes per light, and a projecting left gable stack with set-offs and a dismantled shaft. The woodstore and granary block at the right end has a slightly lower roofline, with a woodstore entrance centrally on the front, a ground-floor one-light window to the left, and a first-floor three-light casement with two panes per light. Steps lead to the granary doorway on the right return.

Inside, the hall features two exposed 16th-century ceiling beams with deep chamfers and run-out stops. The fireplace has been modified in the 20th century but is said to conceal earlier jambs and lintel. The early 18th-century stair has bobbin-turned balusters on the first flight and splat balusters on a short flight on the first floor. Other early 18th-century joinery includes two-panel and plank and batten doors. The roof is an 18th-century pegged collar rafter roof with X apex trusses, now covered by a 20th-century roof. A datestone from 1739 is visible on the front, bearing the initials "W.B." The baffle entry plan is unusual for the region and Devon. The evolution of the house's plan and room usage is a notable feature, with minimal alterations since the 19th century.