Greenwell Farmhouse

Greenwell Farmhouse is a farmhouse dating to the late 16th century, with 19th-century additions and alterations. It stands in Meavy.

The main structure has granite rubble walls rendered to a 19th-century block, with a slate roof hipped at the right-hand end of the original house and gabled over the 19th-century part. The original house has a rendered stone rubble axial stack with a brick shaft; the 19th-century addition has two gable-end rendered stacks.

The original plan was either a three-room-and-through-passage arrangement or a longhouse, though the lower end has been demolished so its precise original function cannot be determined. What survives comprises a passage with the hall to its right, which contains an axial fireplace backing onto the passage. Newel stairs are contained in a projection at the rear of the hall. The inner room has remained unheated and was converted into a dairy, probably in the 19th century. In the mid to late 19th century, the lower end was replaced by a square addition at right angles containing two rooms: a parlour to the left and a kitchen to the right with a double fireplace, one probably housing the range and the other an open fire. The old house was relegated to service purposes at this stage, and a new staircase was inserted in the passage. A lean-to outshut was added to the rear of the hall and inner room in the late 19th century.

The building is two storeys. The asymmetrical two-window front of the old house is flanked by the new block, built at right angles to the left end. The ground floor features a central four-light probably 19th-century casement, re-used from another house, and a 20th-century two-light casement to the left. The first-floor windows are late 20th-century PVC casements: a one-light to the left under a gabled dormer and a four-light to the right. A hipped porch with an original four-centred granite arched doorway, chamfered with pyramid stops and foliage-carved spandrels, occupies the left-hand side. This has probably been re-used from the front of the passage. A 19th-century plank door faces the front of the passage. The front wall incorporates several pieces of granite mullion windows. The 19th-century block has a symmetrical two-window front of late 20th-century PVC casements, facing left at right angles to the old house.

At the rear of the original house is a rectangular stair projection with another shallow projection to its right, rising almost to eaves level, whose purpose is unclear though it resembles the remains of a chimney stack. The wall to its right adjoining the 19th-century addition has been considerably rebuilt. To the left of the stair projection is a late 19th-century lean-to, behind which the rear wall of the house retains a chamfered granite-framed light to the former inner room. A doorway has been inserted to its right.

The hall contains one exposed cross beam, chamfered with run-out stops; the joists exist but are concealed. A granite four-centred arched doorway to the newel stairs is chamfered with pyramid stops. The stone newel stairs are preserved. The hall fireplace, though blocked, is likely to be granite-framed. The dairy retains its slate shelves. A fire approximately 100 years ago makes it unlikely that the original roof timbers are preserved.