Leworthy Mill

Leworthy Mill is a house with late Medieval origins, substantially remodelled in 1684. It is constructed of painted rendered stone rubble and cob, with a corrugated iron roof and rendered stacks at each end. An outbuilding with a hipped corrugated iron roof is attached to the right.

The house originally comprised two rooms, with direct entry into the right-hand room. 20th-century flat-roofed single-storey extensions have been added to the rear and at the left end. The early fabric is largely confined to the right-hand room, where the smoke-blackened roof timbers suggest it began as a one-room open hall house. In 1684, a floor was inserted, and a coved ceiling with decorative plasterwork was created over the large single chamber. A partition wall of solid stone rubble and cob separates the two rooms, indicating that the left-hand room was a later addition. The roof structure over the left side was replaced in the 20th century, making accurate dating of the original construction difficult.

The exterior is two storeys high, with a three-window front. The windows are largely of late 19th and early 20th century date, featuring six-paned sashes and small two-light casements. A sixteen-paned sash window is situated to the left of the gabled, slate-roofed porch. 20th-century additions extend from the left-hand end and along the rear of the house.

The principal chamber above the right-hand room retains good decorative plasterwork, which includes a cornice of trailing leaf design. Above the blocked fireplace, the date 1684 is inscribed with the initials PK/IK, likely referring to the Knill family who owned the property in the late 17th century, along with a crowned fleur-de-lis. A cherub's head is carved in high relief. The coving survives along the rear wall, alongside one panel of a geometrical ribbed design featuring a thistle motif. One spray from this design has been reset above the ground-floor fireplace. The ground floor features 19th-century plank doors and a bread oven to the right-hand room’s fireplace. A single cross ceiling beam is visible in the right-hand room.

The roof was largely replaced in the 20th century, but a single smoke-blackened purlin over the right-hand room’s rear side retains evidence of the building's original open hall house design.