Lee Barton And Adjoining Front Garden Walls

Lee Barton is a farmhouse with adjoining garden walls, probably built in the 15th or 16th century, then substantially remodelled in 1634 (internally dated) with further alterations in 1770 (dated on the stack). The outer walls were probably largely rebuilt during a mid to late 19th-century remodelling, and minor early 20th-century additions were made to the rear. The building is constructed of snecked squared stone with gable-ended Welsh slate roofs. Stone stacks rise from the sides and ends. The front garden walls are of uncoursed stone rubble.

Plan and Development

The house follows a hall and cross-wing plan, facing east with the ground falling away to the right. The hall has an external lateral stack at the rear. To the left of the hall lies a cross passage, and to the right a service room (now the kitchen) with an integral end stack. A projecting gabled cross wing extends from the left-hand end, containing a parlour to the front with an external lateral stack and a former great bedchamber above. At the rear of the cross wing's ground floor is a former dairy with a smaller bedroom above. A dog-leg staircase runs between the front and rear rooms in the cross wing. The present staircase dates from the late 19th century but probably replaces a 17th-century staircase of similar pattern, evidenced by early 17th-century doorways to the ground floor and landing.

The current plan appears to result from early 17th-century remodelling when the present cross passage was probably inserted. The right-hand end room (kitchen) was likely rebuilt at the same time, replacing a former through passage and service rooms. The cross wing is probably a later addition, possibly 16th century, but appears to have been altered in the early 17th century when the interior was remodelled. The rear rooms of the cross wing (including the former dairy on the ground floor) are narrower than the front rooms, possibly due to later rebuilding. A late 19th-century straight staircase was inserted in the right-hand rear corner of the kitchen. An early 20th-century outshut was added at the rear of the right-hand end of the house. The 19th-century garden walls enclose the front garden.

Exterior

The two-storey building has an asymmetrical front. The hall range has three first-floor 19th-century two-light small-paned wooden casements with dressed stone segmental-arched heads, slate sills, and small gables above with pierced scalloped bargeboards. A pair of large 19th-century ground-floor three-light mullioned and transomed wooden casements have dressed stone segmental-arched heads and slate sills. A recessed doorway in the angle of the cross wing to the left has a 19th-century plank door with chamfered wooden frame and rectangular overlight, approached by slate steps. A shallow porch, probably a 20th-century alteration of a larger 19th-century porch, shelters the entrance. A small stone stack with weatherings rises at the right-hand end of the hall range.

The gabled cross wing to the left has large 19th-century three-light mullioned and transomed wooden casements on each floor with dressed stone segmental-arched heads and slate sills. Probable straight joints flanking the windows suggest that the centre of the hall was rebuilt in the 19th century. A small low raking buttress stands to the left. The gable end has pierced scalloped bargeboards.

The left-hand return front of the cross wing features a large stone stack with chamfered offset to the right and offset to a truncated later brick shaft. The datestone was illegible at the time of survey in December 1987. Ground-floor French casements to the right have a dressed stone segmental-arched head. The rear part of the wing, set back to the left, has a first-floor mid to late 19th-century margin-light staircase window to the right and a blocked first-floor window to the left.

The rear gable end of the cross wing has a ground-floor two-light wooden casement with wooden lintel, the left-hand light retaining an internal boarded shutter. The rear return wall of the cross wing has first-floor and ground-floor 19th-century two-light small-paned wooden casements, the first-floor example with a wooden lintel and the ground-floor example with a dressed stone segmental-arched head and slate sill. The latter may formerly have been a doorway, suggested by a straight joint below in line with the right-hand jamb, although this might indicate later rebuilding. A 19th-century plank door to the left has a beaded wooden frame and dressed stone arched head.

A large stack at the rear of the hall has a chamfered offset to the right and offsets to a 19th-century brick shaft. A first-floor 19th-century two-light small-paned wooden casement lies to the right. A ground-floor plank door to the left sits behind a two-storey outshut incorporating a glazed porch on the ground floor.

A low 19th-century stone garden wall encloses the front garden, adjoining the right-hand gable end of the house. A gateway stands opposite the front door and a plank door is set in the wall adjacent to the gable end.

Interior

The interior is notable for its fine joinery and plasterwork. An old large fireplace at the rear of the hall was divided in the 19th century, creating a smaller fireplace to the right and a cupboard to the left with a plank door, fitted with a chamfered wooden chimney-piece with mantelshelf. A 17th-century decorative plaster overmantel consists of a central shield set in a cartouche with flanking strapwork, somewhat blurred by later layers of paint.

A 17th-century oak plank and muntin screen separates the hall from the passage. The passage side is more elaborate, with ovolo-moulded panels above the middle rail and sunk-chamfered muntins below with ogee stops. The hall side is all sunk-chamfered. The central doorway has a 19th-century four-panelled door and two-part rectangular overlight. A 17th-century enriched plaster frieze runs along the left-hand wall of the passage, with a repeated motif of a pair of prancing horses.

The front ground-floor room in the cross wing (parlour) has fine 17th-century enriched plasterwork. A plaster frieze with repeated moulded floral motif and moulded plaster cornice adorns the room. The ceiling has a pair of plaster-cased cross beams and half beams to front and back, each with moulded cornice on each side and moulded wreaths on the underside. Three panels between the beams have thin moulded ribs and moulded floral motifs. The fireplace has a 17th-century enriched plaster chimney-piece consisting of a frieze with repeating flower motif, raised central key shields at each end, and moulded cornice. The enriched 17th-century plaster overmantel features central strapwork dated 1634 and flanking female figures holding a cornucopia (right-hand) and frond (left-hand). The fireplace was reduced, probably in the late 17th or early 18th century, by the introduction of a plaster inner surround with incised rustication.

The rear ground-floor room of the cross wing (dairy) is divided by a 19th-century slatted wooden screen. The staircase hall between the front and rear rooms of the cross wing has a 19th-century dog-leg wooden staircase with half landing, closed string, stick balusters, turned newel posts, and segmental arch at the foot. Early 17th-century doorways to the front and back rooms on each floor have 17th-century pegged ovolo-moulded wooden frames with mitred ovolo and ogee stops, and 17th-century nail-studded doors with three tall moulded panels.

The kitchen has a 17th-century nail-studded ribbed cupboard door to the left of the fireplace. A 19th-century staircase to the rear of the kitchen has matchboarded sides. Much mid to late 19th-century joinery is found throughout the house, including four-panelled doors.

Roof

The house was largely reroofed in the early 17th century and further altered in the mid to late 19th century. A five-bay 17th-century roof over the hall range has trusses consisting of straight principals with mortice and tenoned apices and lap-jointed collars. Former threaded purlins and diagonally-set ridge-piece were moved during the late 19th-century reroofing. An unblackened earlier truss, probably 15th or 16th century, stands between the first and second 17th-century trusses from the right, with straight principals and mortice and tenoned collar.

Seventeenth-century roof trusses also cover the cross wing. The trusses over the front bedroom have small triangular blocks in the angles of principals and collars, suggesting a former coved plaster ceiling over this room. The top of the partition between the front bedroom and the top of the staircase is visible in the roofspace and has evidence of former plaster strapwork decoration on the bedroom side, confirming the former existence of a 17th-century enriched plaster ceiling over this room (confirmed by the owner in January 1988).

This house, notable for its 17th-century plasterwork, forms part of a farmstead group, also including a range of farm buildings, possibly formerly a service range, and a range of pigsties.