Tackbeare Farmhouse

Manor house, originally dating from the late 16th century as a probable open hall house. The building was ceiled in the late 17th or early 18th century when plasterwork was added. It was refenestrated possibly around 1820, when the porch was resited one bay to the north and a corridor added on the west front. The south-east wing was taken down in 1858. Early 20th-century improvements were carried out, including a west extension to the north-east wing incorporating reused material dated 1937, a rebuilt porch, and a south wall rebuilt after collapse sometime in the 20th century. Much of the early 20th-century internal carving was undertaken by Albert de C. Glubb.

The main structure is of squared and coursed local stone with granite quoins and dressings, roughcast gable ends, and slate roofs. Brick stacks are located in the outer bays of the main block and at adjoining junctions with the wings. The house originally formed a U-plan facing east with the entrance to the screens passage adjoining a wing in the end bay to the left of the main block. This wing was subsequently demolished and the entrance moved one bay to the north, though it is now positioned beside the north-west addition of the 1930s.

The east front displays two storeys. The main block consists of four bays with three bays forming a re-entrant angle. All windows are 12-pane sashes, with four featuring horns on the first floor of the re-entrant angle and the end bay to the right of the main block. Ground floor windows are positioned beneath granite lintels. The entrance occupies the second bay to the left, marked by a gabled porch with a depressed segmental opening and tablet above, and contains a plank inner door with decorative hinges. A two-storey, one-bay addition to the north-west features a reused granite mullioned window under a hoodmould and a reused hoodmould above a blocked doorway.

Internally, the hall displays decoration of around 1700, including a plaster ceiling with an oak leaf garland and plaster cornices flanking an angle chimneybreast. The entrance hall adjoining features a cherub's face in an oval and a beam embellished by Mr Glubb, with square-headed granite lintels opening into adjoining rooms to the south. The north-east wing contains a plasterwork overmantel with the coat of arms of the Gilbert and Rolle families, strapwork, and supporting figures, said to date from 1693, along with remains of 18th-century panelling. A staircase adjoins this space, featuring a resited Tudor arch head granite opening and carved beams added in the 1930s gatehouse addition.

On the upper floor, a bedroom in the north-east wing displays plasterwork with a cartouche containing the arms of the Gilbert and Kniveton families above a bolection moulded fireplace surround, now blocked, with a flat ceiling inserted that cuts into the upper portion of the plasterwork. An adjoining bedroom contains a plasterwork overmantel depicting the winged figure of Father Time pointing to a crown above the head of a diminutive George I on his right, with a naked figure thought to represent the Old Pretender on his left, depicted with a whip slipping over his head. A carved framework by Mr Glubb is present in this space. Two small bedrooms over the hall and the former entrance hall feature moulded plaster cornices. The roof timbers were not observed.

The house is believed to have been built by Richart Gilbert, with early 19th-century improvements carried out by Colonel George Harwood.