Eastbear Farmhouse

Farmhouse. Dating to approximately the late 16th century, it may have earlier origins, with a mid-17th century addition and 20th-century alterations. The structure is built with rendered cob and rubble walls, and has a gable ended roof covered in asbestos slate. A large, projecting rendered rubble stack is located on the gable of the front wing, while a brick axial stack serves the other range. The farmhouse has an L-shaped plan. The original north-west range comprised three rooms with a through passage and a downhill end, featuring a lower end to the left. A projection at the higher end of the hall appears to have been a window bay. It originally included an unheated inner room. The form of this earlier range was substantially altered in the early 20th century when the lower end was demolished, extending up to and including the hall stack. A new axial stack was inserted at the higher end of the hall, and the rear wall was rebuilt. A straight run staircase was placed at the front of the inner room. The wing projecting from the inner room was added around the mid-17th century, possibly as a kitchen or parlour. The main entrance is now located in the angle of the two wings, leading into an axial passage which extends to the staircase and rooms in the other range. This wing has been subdivided into two rooms, with an outshut added at the rear. Evidence of the original extent of the house can be seen in late 19th or early 20th century photographs owned by the current owners. The exterior presents a two-storey, asymmetrical three-window front with 20th-century two-light casement windows. The projecting wing to the right has two windows on the first floor and one below. The left-hand range has a ground-floor window to the left; to its right is a two-storey projection containing a two-light casement on the first floor and fragments of a long stone hoodmould below, though the mullioned window formerly beneath it has been blocked or removed. A small 20th-century porch with a plank door is set into the angle of the two wings. Inside, the hall features a complex arrangement of ceiling beams—three axial and one transverse. The front axial beam does not extend the full length of the room but stops at the transverse beam, which itself does not extend the full width of the room but stops at the next axial beam. This arrangement may have been connected to the hall stack or another removed feature. All the ceiling beams are chamfered with straight-cut stops, except for the far end beam, which has a pyramid stop. An ovolo-moulded wooden doorframe leads from the hall to the inner room, and the front wing has ovolo-moulded cross beams. The roof trusses have all been renewed in the 20th century.