Horndon House

Horndon House is a house dating from the mid-16th century, possibly incorporating earlier fabric, with substantial alterations in the early 19th century and later. Further rebuilding occurred in the mid-19th century, including an inner room fireplace and roof, and a shippon wall that continued in use late in the 19th century. 20th-century alterations are also evident. The house is constructed of mixed granite and slatestone rubble with slate roofs; the lower range is cement-washed. It originally comprised three rooms and a through passage, with an unusually wide passage, and the lower end was likely unheated. The hall was heated by a stack backing onto the passage, and there was a gable-end stack to the inner room. An 18th-century single-storey outbuilding was added to the rear of the lower end, later extended with further outshuts.

The upper end has two windows: on the ground floor, a 2-light casement with 2 panes per light, and a 2-light casement with a segmental head and 3 panes per light. The first floor has a similar casement to the left and a 4-pane sash to the right, with footings rising to the right. The lower end, to the left and of 1½ storeys, has a 20th-century porch in the angle to the right, with a 20th-century stable door, two 2-light casements to the left, one with a segmental head, and a lean-to to the left, possibly contemporary with the rebuilding of the shippon. The right return features a large external stack to the inner room, while the left return has 20th-century windows in a lean-to, a door, and a 2-light casement in a rendered gable end. The rear elevation includes a single-storey lean-to with a corrugated roof and two small 20th-century 2-light casements; the rear of the through passage is set back to the left with a 20th-century door.

Inside, the passage features a granite bacon-curing trough and a rounded projection from the rear of an oven. A large mortice above suggests a formerly floored area, now open to roof level, possibly indicating a former door opening with a hole in the rear wall. The heated room to the right features a fireplace with hollow-chamfered granite jambs, a hatch above the fireplace, and the remains of a granite winder stair below a 19th-century straight stair, with a 2-panelled door. The door to the passage has a cambered chamfered lintel, suggesting it originated from a wider opening. A 4-panelled door with raised mouldings and a hearthstone fragment from the first floor room project above the lintel. A window has a deep splayed reveal, formerly with a seat, and another reveals a granite window. The ceiling incorporates two chamfered cross beams with run-out stops, and joists with step and run-out stops. A hatch is positioned above the fireplace. The inner room, at a higher level, has a 20th-century fireplace. Two steps down lead to a room to the left, where the position of a drain is not visible. At the first floor, there was formerly a fireplace over the hall stack. The rear of the house may have originally faced the front.