Waye Barton

Waye Barton is a house and former barton, originating in the early 17th century, rearranged and partly rebuilt in the early 19th century, and refurbished around 1982. It is constructed of granite stone rubble walls with large dressed granite quoins. The early 19th-century section was originally stuccoed but is now exposed. The building has granite stacks with granite ashlar chimney shafts and a slate roof.

The building is L-shaped. The principal rooms are contained in the north-east facing early 19th-century block, which has a two-room plan with a central entrance hall and stairs projecting to the rear. Each room here has a rear lateral stack. A wing projecting forward from the right (north-eastern) side is all that remains from the earlier house and was converted to service use in the early 19th century. It has a two-room plan with a lobby between and end stacks. Behind the rear of this wing is a 19th-century store. Both blocks are two storeys, though the early 19th-century block is taller.

The early 19th-century block has a symmetrical three-window front arranged around a central doorway. The original panelled door has an overlight with a pattern of glazing bars, panelled reveals, and a doorcase with incised pilasters and moulded entablatures. It is flanked by early 20th-century French windows built into the original window embrasures. The first-floor windows are original: a central twelve-pane sash flanked by sixteen-pane sashes. All these windows have flat concrete architraves added around 1969 when the stucco was removed. On the rear, the stair turret contains a tall eighteen-pane sash. The roof is hipped to the left and gable-ended to the right.

The early 17th-century wing faces south-east and has an irregular four-window front. All except one are original with hollow-chamfered granite mullions and contain 20th-century rectangular panes of leaded glass. The doorway left of centre is also original, featuring an elliptical arch with a broad ovolo-moulded surround. The roof here is gable-ended. There are some 20th-century outshots on the rear and a 20th-century back door made up from pieces of 17th-century moulded granite found in the garden.

The early 19th-century interior of the main block is well-preserved and of good quality. The earlier block was refurbished around 1982 but the early 17th-century fabric survives substantially intact. In the left room adjoining the Georgian block, the crossbeam is soffit-chamfered with scroll stops. The fireplace here is blocked. The partition to the central lobby is an oak plank-and-muntin screen with unusually narrow muntins. The beam here is a replacement and the oak stairs date from around 1982. In the right room, the crossbeam is boxed in but the original fireplace is exposed, built of granite with a soffit-chamfered and late step-stopped oak lintel.

On the first floor, the left end chamber contains delightful ornamental moulded plasterwork dated 1636. Above a probably blocked fireplace in the end wall there is a rectangular plaque defined by a broad rib enriched with flowers and with small carnation sprays on the corners. It contains a winged cherub head in the middle with the date 1636. Above and below are the initials IP, each separated by a number, 23 and 27. This appears unusual and seems to commemorate ages with initials, possibly a wedding plaque. There is a shield to the right but a left one is missing. Other plasterwork around the room includes royal badges with the initials CR, moulded cornices along the purlins, one purlin has a frieze along its front, and other floral sprays.

In the middle chamber, now a stair landing, there is a late 17th-century painted plaque with a Biblical misquotation. The original roof survives comprising A-frame trusses. The older wing is the remains of a high-quality house. It was the home of the Prouz family in the 16th century and up to 1664. One of the plaster initials probably commemorates John Prouz.