Range Of Outbuildings About 20 Metres West Of Plumley Farmhouse

This is a U-shaped range of farm outbuildings situated about 20 metres west of Plumley Farmhouse. The buildings largely date from the 19th century, but incorporate a late 16th or early 17th century barn at the west end of the southern arm. The north and west arms are constructed from stone rubble, while the south arm has solid walls covered in roughcast. The early barn section of the south arm is built with cob on a stone footing, although the upper part of the south wall has been rebuilt in yellow brick and the north-west corner repaired with concrete block. The roofs are slate, with late 19th-century glazed ridge tiles, except for sections of corrugated iron at either end of the southern arm. One end of the early barn has been reduced in height and given a lean-to corrugated iron roof.

The buildings are mostly two-storeyed, with single-storey sections, particularly at the west end of the early barn. This barn appears to have been altered in the 18th century with the addition of an internal stone wall, dividing a single-storey barn section on the west from the two-storeyed section on the east; it is uncertain if the whole building was originally single-storeyed. The north front, facing the courtyard, has a small doorway at the left-hand end with a plank door fitted with wrought-iron strap hinges and a straight-headed, pegged door frame. To the right is a larger doorway with a similar frame and a pair of plank doors, also with wrought-iron strap hinges. The upper portion of the left-hand door was replaced in the 19th century and opens independently. Early graffiti, consisting of initials and the dates 1768 and 1779, is scratched into the older doors.

The interior of the barn has upper floor-beams with run-out stops, possibly reused. In the upper storey of the east gable are two blocked slit windows with deeply splayed embrasures; one is just above floor level and the other is close to the apex of the gable. These external windows have plain rectangular wood frames with pegged joints. Three roof trusses survive; the western one is built into the stone wall dividing the storeyed section from the barn. The trusses have plain feet resting directly on the wall tops, halved dovetailed collars, notched apexes, and through purlins. A pit for a water-wheel remains at the rear of the western section, with an iron screw still inside the building.