Beggar'S Hatch

Beggar's Hatch is a farmhouse, now house, located in Mary Tavy. The building dates to the early 17th century, with a date of 1686 inscribed on the hall fireplace, and includes a later 17th-century rear wing. It has undergone internal alterations around 1800, mid to late 19th-century external alterations, and 20th-century alterations.

The building is constructed of slatestone and granite rubble with granite dressings. The roof is asbestos slate with some original slates remaining, featuring brick gable stacks and a rubble rear lateral stack. The first floor of the rear wing was originally built in cob but was rebuilt in the 20th century faced in rubble.

The house originally comprised four rooms arranged around the stack and hearth. The room at the end left was formerly a dairy, and the room at the end right was demolished following a 20th-century flood. The lower end was originally positioned to the right, with the front passage door now concealed by a lean-to. The rear passage door now leads to the rear wing, which also encloses the original stair tower. The inner room is heated by the rear lateral stack. The original stair was replaced around 1800 with a new stair to the rear that divides right and left, providing separate access to the first-floor rooms. The overall plan is L-shaped, formed by the rear wing; it was originally T-shaped before the demolition of the end room to the right.

The front elevation displays two storeys with three windows. The ground floor has three 4-pane sashes with brick segmental heads. The second window from the left features a panelled and glazed 19th-century door. To the end right is a lean-to with a half-glazed door concealing a ledged door with strap hinges dating to around 1800, alongside a single light in a granite hollow-chamfered surround. A door opens to the front of the lean-to. The first floor has two 4-pane sashes under the eaves and a 3-light, 3-pane casement to the right. The right end features a curved oven projection to the right of the flue, with a 20th-century 2-light casement at first-floor level. A straight joint marks the junction with the lower 2-storey rear wing, which has a 3-light casement at ground floor and a 2-light casement at first floor, both 20th-century work. A single-storey outhouse is attached to the right, featuring two door openings with timber lintels and a rag slate roof, with 20th-century doors in the gable end. The left end has an asbestos slate-hung gable end.

The inner side of the rear wing displays 20th-century ground and first-floor windows and a half-glazed door. The rear wing was built around the original stair tower, which retains a single light in a hollow-chamfered granite surround with leaded lights and an iron stanchion. A stepped rear lateral stack to the right has slate weatherings. A wall continues in the same line as the stack with a 2-light, 6-pane casement at first-floor level. The wall then steps back to the right, where a 20th-century single light is positioned at first-floor level. A brick and rubble lean-to runs along the ground-floor level with a door and a 2-light, 2-pane casement.

Internally, the former rear passage opening features a fine 2-panelled door with raised fillets, studs, and strap hinges, backed by heavy battens. A circa 1800 straight stair, set slightly to the right of the stair tower, divides right and left at the landing, with turned balusters and a moulded handrail. The bottom steps of an earlier newel stair are preserved in a cupboard beneath. The room to the left has a fireplace with granite jambs and a flat timber lintel, with a cloam oven to the rear left. The room to the right features the hall fireplace (served by the rear lateral stack) in granite with hollow-chamfered jambs and lintel, the latter roll-moulded and bearing the initials and date "BIF/1686" on a central cartouche, for Isobel Fulford and Badcock. Panelled cupboards to the left date from circa 1800 alterations. A screen partition with raised moulded fillets separates the hall from the staircase. The roof is a 20th-century reconstruction.

The building was formerly known as Harford Bridge Farmhouse.