Dipple Farmhouse And Adjoining Farm Buildings To South And East

Dipple Farmhouse and the adjoining farm buildings form a traditional farmstead. The farmhouse itself dates to around the middle of the 17th century, with a 19th-century addition. It is constructed of rendered rubble walls, possibly incorporating cob, and has a gable-ended roof covered in asbestos slate. A barn is built of rubble and cob, with a corrugated iron roof. The farmhouse has three brick stacks – one axial, one at the right-hand end, and one to the rear in an outshut. Originally, the farmhouse had a three-room and through-passage plan. The hall was heated by a stack at its upper end, the inner room was unheated, and the lower room had a gable-end fireplace. It's possible the hall also served as a kitchen, the inner room as a service room, and the lower room as a parlour. A 17th-century barn projects from the left-hand end, adjoining the inner room, and a shippon (a cow shelter) runs parallel to the house, potentially dating to the 17th or 18th century. A 20th-century lean-to has been added in the angle between the barn and the house. A 20th-century staircase was inserted in the passage, and a 19th-century outshut runs along the rear wall of the house. The front of the farmhouse has an asymmetrical façade with a late 19th or early 20th-century arrangement of six-pane sash windows. A 20th-century plank and part-glazed door is positioned to the right of centre. The shippon projects at a right angle from the left-hand end of the barn, with doorways to the left and right, a window between them, and a 1st-floor loading hatch to the left of centre. The lower room of the farmhouse has a small fireplace with a chamfered wooden lintel, the jambs having been rebuilt. It has a roughly chamfered ceiling beam. The hall has a large open fireplace with chamfered dressed stone jambs and a cambered and chamfered wooden lintel with bar stops. Ceiling beams are similarly decorated, the one nearest the partition grooved where a screen would have been. The inner room features a roughly chamfered beam. Visible roof features include straight principal rafters, possibly dating back to the 17th century. The barn’s roof trusses are also from the 17th century, consisting of straight principals with mortised apexes, trenched purlins, and collars halved on with dovetail joints. This group of buildings forms a visually appealing traditional farmstead, and the survival of a 17th-century barn is relatively uncommon.