Shewte Farmhouse

Shewte Farmhouse is a 16th-century or earlier farmhouse, with later additions. It has solid, roughcast walls, likely of stone or cob, and a slate roof with clay ridge tiles. The gables feature stacks; the stack on the right-hand gable, originally granite ashlar with a tapered cap and a later 19th-century brick shaft, is positioned off-centre on the ridge. The left-hand gable stack is of early 19th-century red brick, while the right-hand gable stack has a rendered base with a granite cap and a later 19th-century brick shaft. The building originally had a 3-room and through-passage plan, incorporating a semi-circular stair turret at the rear of the hall and a hall stack backing onto the passage. A rear kitchen wing, likely an addition, extends from the lower end. 20th-century lean-tos are attached to the left-hand gable and in the angle of the main and kitchen ranges. The two-storey main part of the house has a four-window front with 19th-century wood casement windows, most of two lights, except for the two windows from the right on each floor, which are of three lights. A gabled porch with a round-arched doorway, flanked by seats, and a 18th-century four-panelled door (the upper two panels now glazed) is located in the second bay from the left. A stone inscription dated 1896 is above the porch. A large corbel with a small piece of stringcourse below and to its right is situated at the far left-hand end of the house, halfway up the second storey. An old weathering course, interrupted by a 20th-century window, runs along the left-hand gable, level with the corbel. Inside, the hall stack has a fine ashlar backing to the passage, featuring a chamfered cornice at ceiling level and a plinth, which appears to have been cut away. The stone is a pinkish colour, possibly due to a fire. A 20th-century fireplace sits in front of a wider original opening, which has a stone relieving arch rising into the second storey. A plain square-section ceiling beam is visible in the hall, and a window seat has ovolo-moulded panels. The roof was not inspected, but no trusses are visible, and the owner states that the joists are 20th-century replacements. The former kitchen wing has a central stack with an external oven projection. A good late 19th-century barn with a datestone of 1899 and initials HTE is situated in front of the house. The barn is not included in the listing.