Oakley Farmhouse

Oakley Farmhouse is a late 16th or early 17th century farmhouse, substantially altered and extended over subsequent centuries. The building is constructed of granite and slate-stone rubble with granite dressings and slate roofs. The upper end was demolished and replaced by a 2-storey block around 1880, and the roof was replaced in the early 20th century with some later alterations.

The original plan consisted of two rooms with a very wide through passage or unheated central room featuring opposing doors and a shippon (cattle shelter). The shippon was positioned to the left. A rear wing of two-room plan extended behind the hall, forming an L-shaped layout. The rear wing contained heated living accommodation served by a stack to its outer side, and an unheated dairy at its end. A single-storey stable was added at the gable end, probably in the mid-19th century. Further stabling of two storeys was built to form a second rear wing behind the shippon, also probably mid-19th century, creating a U-plan courtyard to the rear of the farmhouse.

The original orientation of the house is uncertain. The 4-centred arched doorway now to the rear is of better quality than the passage doorway now to the front, which might suggest the wing containing the dairy was originally positioned to the front of the house. The wide through passage is unusually broad and appears to be a room forming an original feature of the plan, as the door that would have led to the hall has not been moved from its original position.

The 19th century front facade, now effectively at the rear as the house is approached from the U-plan courtyard, comprises two storeys and three windows, all 4-pane sashes. A central gabled porch has a 20th century door and overlight. Set back to the left is a lower 2-storey passage and shippon with a tall 4-centred arched granite doorway to the passage, chamfered, with a door fitted with strap hinges. Two blocked window openings appear under the eaves of the shippon, and a single-storey lean-to in rubble stands to the front. Inside the lean-to there is no access to the shippon, and a blocked ventilation slit remains in the shippon wall. The shippon has a hipped roof to its left end and a cement-washed slate roof. To its left, a gable end of single-storey rubble lean-to provides additional animal shelter, with a small single ventilation opening and door. A drain hole remains inside on the shippon end wall. To the left, the outer wall of the stable attached to the shippon has a rubble lean-to with a roof continuing the pitch of the stable roof in corrugated iron. The gable end of the stable has a door with a ventilation slit above and large granite quoins.

The right gable end of the 19th century block is rendered and lined out, with two 4-pane sashes at ground and first floor. Set back to the right is a 19th century stair projection of two storeys, with 2-pane sashes at ground and first floor. Attached to the right is a 2-storey rear wing, possibly of original build, with a stack to the left and a single-storey lean-to containing a single unglazed light. The gable end of this wing is rendered, with a small single blocked granite window with hollow-chamfering. A single-storey stable, probably 19th century, is attached to its end with a door.

The rear of the main range has a rear passage doorway with a 4-centred chamfered granite arch with round-cut stops at the springing. Single lights flank this doorway, with a granite lintel to the right and a single light under the eaves to the right. In the angle to the stable to the right is an external stair leading to a loading door in the shippon and a door to the stable. The stable has a door and window with granite lintels. The rear wing to the left has two small 2-light casements under the eaves, entered directly through a 4-centred arched chamfered granite doorway with step stops. To the right is a 2-light casement of 8 panes per light with segmental head, and to the left an unglazed 2-light casement with segmental head.

Internally, the passage contains a door to the shippon with strap hinges and timber lintel, and a 4-centred arched granite doorway to the former hall, chamfered and step-stopped. Wooden panelling with a frieze from the former hall has been reset in the 19th century passage, bearing scratch-carved initials and date: "WH THE 29 OF MAY IP THE 29 DAY OF MAY 1655".

The rear wing appears to have been remodelled in the 18th century. The inner room has a granite fireplace with a flat chamfered lintel. A staircase with 18th century turned balusters was inserted along the party wall between the two rooms. The inner room is entered both from a door in the rear longitudinal passage and externally.