Boyton Farmhouse

Boyton Farmhouse is a farmhouse dating from the 17th century, with a front range added and the rear significantly altered around 1810, and some 20th-century alterations. The construction combines rubble, with slate cladding above a rendered plinth, rendering to the sides, and whitewash to the rear. It has a slate roof and gable-end stacks to the front range, with a further stack to the outer side of the rear wing, potentially from the original 17th-century build.

The house has an early 19th-century double-depth plan, arranged around a central passage. This passage includes a principal room to the right and left, each originally heated by a gable-end stack, and a stair hall to the rear right. A service stair is located to the left, incorporating an earlier building of uncertain original plan. A single-story kitchen outshut is attached to the rear right, possibly the original kitchen.

The front facade is two stories high with three windows, all 20th-century casements. The ground floor features casements to the left and right of a central porch with a round-arched hood supported by wooden, chamfered posts. The door is a six-panelled fielded door with a fanlight containing glazing bars. The left gable end has a four-pane sash window with a segmental head at the first floor, and a small attic light to the left. The right gable end displays a tall, narrow stair light with a round head and 20th-century replacement glazing bars, alongside a small attic light, and a single-story rubble lean-to.

The rear elevation includes a rubble kitchen outshut to the right, with a chamfered outer wall, a 20th-century door, and a 2-light casement. A central bay is stepped forward, featuring a tall rubble stack to the left side, granite quoins, a 20th-century window at both ground and first-floor levels, and a single-story lean-to with a corrugated iron roof, a 3-pane light, and a door. A 20th-century window is positioned above the lean-to on the first floor of the main range.

The interior is of high quality and exhibits an unusual plan. The central passage has curved walls to both the right and left of the entrance, forming a semi-circular inner porch. The walls are also curved to the rear, creating a circular area with a vaulted ceiling. Details include pilasters at the corners, a cornice with a Vitruvian scroll frieze, and Greek-key carved architraves to the doors leading to the principal rooms, except for the doorway on the left side which appears to be a later 19th-century alteration. All other doors are four-panelled. The stairwell in the rear right contains a narrow, open-well staircase with stick balusters, a carved string, and a wreathed handrail. A room on the ground floor to the right has a reeded cornice, and a first-floor room to the right features a plain cornice and a 19th-century cast iron grate. In the rear, the kitchen outshut provides access to the front via a granite doorway with a four-centred arched, chamfered, and step-stopped head, and a heavy door with studs and strap hinges. This may have been the original doorway to the main passage and was possibly reset. To the rear left, between the kitchen outshut and the front room, there is an unheated room that was formerly used for salting, alongside the rear service stair which extends to the attic level.