Bullaton Farmhouse

Bullaton Farmhouse is a derelict farmhouse of late medieval origin with a late 16th or 17th century wing, and a lower end rebuilt in the late 19th century. It stands as a two-storey structure, though the front section of the wing is now reduced to a single-storey lean-to, and the hall was originally single-storeyed.

The building is constructed of stone rubble with some brick in the 19th century section, and is rendered in patches. The roof is partly slated and partly covered with corrugated iron. A red brick chimneystack sits in the left-hand gable just behind the ridge. A pair of stacks occupies the centre; the left-hand stack on the ridge is of late 19th century red and yellow brick, while the right-hand stack, just behind the ridge, is of granite ashlar with a brick top.

The original plan was probably a three-room layout with a cross-passage, and a kitchen wing added at right angles to the hall and inner room. The passage and lower room appear to have been replaced in the 19th century by parlours and a staircase. The 19th century lower end to the left presents a three-window front. The ground storey has only one window at the right-hand end, featuring a 19th century wood casement of two lights, each with six panes. The second storey has a six-pane wood sash window at either end and a tall narrow staircase window in the centre with a two-pane wood sash. In the older part of the house to the right is a single staircase window set between storeys, containing a two-light wood casement with eight leaded panes of old glass.

The wing features an inner-face door with four flush panels and a cast-iron knocker, with a 20th century hood above. To the right is a plank door with a twelve-pane wood casement above, re-used as a fanlight. At the left-hand end of the second storey is a two-light wood casement window with twelve leaded panes of old glass in each light.

Internally, the former hall contains a granite fireplace with hollow moulding on the lintel and left jamb, though the right-hand side has been cut away. Chamfered upper floor beams span the space. A stud-and-panel screen at the upper end features studs chamfered with diagonal-cut stops on the hall side and plain towards the narrow and unheated inner room. Two incised drawings of 18th century sailing ships mark the hall face; at the south-east end, the stops are positioned high to allow for a heavy plank bench, which, while not necessarily original, is certainly old.

The roof retains a single side-pegged jointed-cruck truss with butt purlins and ridge, positioned above the common hall and smoke-blackened along with adjacent common rafters. South-west of it sits a closed truss set almost midway over the hall, the upper part of which must have been part-floored from the outset. At the south-west end is a hip cruck. The wing preserves chamfered upper-floor beams with original joists. The gable fireplace in the ground storey has a chamfered wood lintel with step-stops. The roof retains two similar, unblackened trusses with butt purlins and collars tenoned to the principal rafters; in one truss the principals are raised crucks, whilst in the other their feet are not visible.

The upper storeys of both wing and hall range are reached by a straight flight of stone steps at the front of the hall. The surrounding farm buildings present a remarkably complete picture of a 19th century Dartmoor farm, with the linhay, barn, ash house and rick-stands separately listed as items of special interest and forming part of the curtilage.