Barn Directly To South Of Bradstone Millhouse

This is a circa 17th century house, likely later used for industrial purposes with the addition of a water wheel on the right-hand side wall. It is now used as a barn for sheep with a hayloft above. A further extension was added to the left-hand gable end in the late 17th century. The building is constructed of cob and stone rubble with a rag slate roof to the front slope; corrugated iron roofs cover the rear and the right-hand hipped end. The extension on the left-hand gable end has a slightly shallower pitched rag slate roof. Chimney stacks have been removed. The original plan likely comprised two rooms and a cross passage. There was an unheated lower room on the right, with a heated hall to the left, originally heated by an end stack. A third room was added to the higher end of the hall, transforming the hall stack into an axial stack, and resulting in a second end stack on the left-hand gable end for heating the inner room, possibly a parlour. Around the late 18th century, a water wheel was built into the right-hand side wall, fed by a leat running along the rear of the building, transported to the overshot wheel via a launder. The central range appears to have been used for an industrial purpose, evidenced by smoke blackening on the ceiling beams and roof timbers.

The building is two storeys high, with the left-hand extension set slightly forward. The ground floor features two plank door openings and a third entrance to the right of centre, featuring a circa 17th century moulded timber door frame with carpenters mitres. A small rectangular window is set within a wall that is slightly set back to the right. The first floor has a loft door in the left-hand extension, a half-dormer with shutters, and a square opening to the right. A later door opening in the right-hand hipped end is set within a granite lintel. Evidence of the water wheel’s removal remains.

Internally, small granite lintels are found above the fireplace on the left-hand gable end and above the hall fireplace. The heavy ceiling beams are slightly chamfered and show smoke blackening. Later floor boards, likely from the mid-19th century, are clean. The roof comprises eight bays, with the first two trusses in the extension replaced in the late 19th century. Five trusses to the main range date to the 17th century, featuring straight principals morticed at the apex and resting on a timber wall plate (partly removed). These have cambered collars dovetailed into the principals and trenched purlins, with diagonally set ridge timbers. Smoke blackening is evident in the dovetail holes of the third, fourth and fifth principals, with the seventh principal partly smoke blackened. The roof is paired with later clean rafters and a lapped and pegged collar.