West Down Farmhouse And Barn Adjoining At South

West Down Farmhouse and barn are a C17 farmhouse with a barn built around the early 19th century, situated in Ashwater. The farmhouse is constructed of whitewashed plastered cob on stone rubble footings, with a corrugated iron roof on the barn and asbestos slate on the farmhouse (originally thatched). The farmhouse has a hipped roof at the right end and a gable at the left end, with a substantial stone axial stack providing heat to the hall and a probable 19th-century stone stack at the right gable. The barn has a hipped roof at the left end.

The original C17 plan comprised a three-room and through-passage house, with the hall stack backing onto the passage and a probable unheated inner room, alongside a barn at the lower end. An 18th or 19th-century rear outshut was removed and replaced with a flat-roofed rear extension in the 20th century. Rebuilding, possibly following a partial collapse of the front wall, has resulted in a long beam inserted under the eaves in the centre of the front elevation and a change in the front wall's plane. The farmhouse features an asymmetrical 4-window front, with the front door leading into the passage on the left – accessed under a long timber lintel. Ground floor casement windows are three-light, with the window to the right of the front door featuring four panes per light, and the others three panes per light. First-floor windows are high under the eaves and are two-light casements with glazing bars; the third window from the right is set lower and sits below a long beam built into the front wall. The barn, adjoining the left end of the farmhouse, has a loft entrance to the right and a door to the left.

Inside, the passage remains, with exposed joists and a blocked opening leading to the lower end. The front of the passage has a slate floor, while the rear, now used as a storage room, has a cobbled floor. The hall contains a large C17 fireplace with a cloam oven, featuring a granite and squared stone jamb and a timber lintel with a chamfer and ogee stops. The rear of the stack, visible in the passage, is constructed with neat courses of squared masonry and smaller lacing courses. Two chamfered cross beams are present in the hall, their stops possibly concealed behind plaster. A keeping place is located on the front wall of the hall. The inner room incorporates a 20th-century fireplace and one chamfered cross beam. Large straight principal rafters are visible in the first-floor rooms, believed to be from the 17th century; the roof apex was not inspected.