Great Burrow

The Great Burrow is a house, originally a farmhouse, dating to the early 16th century with significant alterations in the 17th century. It is constructed of cob walls on rubble footings, partially rendered, with a gabled thatched roof. The house has two rendered rubble stacks, one at the left-hand gable end, and another positioned axially with a later shaft. Initially, it likely had either a three-room and through-passage plan or a longhouse plan, although the latter is suggested by its downhill siting. The lower end of the house, to the right, has been demolished, obscuring the original plan. Surviving elements of the early house include a shouldered head doorway, with the remainder having undergone remodelling during the 17th century. The hall stack backs onto the passage, and the inner room is heated by a gable end stack, being of equal length to the hall. A 19th-century outbuilding extension replaced the demolished lower end.

The front facade is asymmetrical, featuring a three-window arrangement of small-paned casements from the 19th and early 20th centuries; these have two lights on the first floor and three lights on the ground floor. A wide 19th-century plank door leads to the passage on the right-hand side, and the front wall projects slightly towards the centre, potentially indicating a shallow hall bay. A lower 19th-century outbuilding sits at the right-hand end. A blocked doorway is visible in the lower wall of the passage, and a 20th-century lean-to is located at the rear of the hall. A blocked, shouldered head wooden doorframe is apparent on the rear wall of the inner room, likely reused from an earlier feature.

Inside, the hall contains a fireplace with rough granite jambs and a chamfered wooden lintel with worn stops; an oven is built into the left-hand side. A chamfered axial beam with convex stops is situated surprisingly close to the front wall. A 19th-century double “creamer” is built into the front wall. The inner room has a chamfered axial beam with ogee stops, alongside a similar half-beam along the rear wall. The fireplace here has roughly chamfered granite jambs and a replacement wooden lintel. The feet of straight principal rafters are visible on the first floor, although these are likely post-18th century.