Prowtytown Farmhouse

Farmhouse. Dating from the late 16th and early 17th centuries, with a later 17th-century addition to the rear, and a 19th-century enlargement and stair tower closure to form a baffle entry, with some 20th-century alterations. The farmhouse is constructed of granite and slatestone rubble with granite dressings, and rendered surfaces. It has a dry slate roof with a slate-hung upper gable end between the hall and passage, and a gable end stack to the hall. The original plan was of three rooms and a cross passage, likely a longhouse open to a shippon on the left, with the hall and inner room to the right. The hall is heated by an axial stack backing onto the passage, while the inner room appears not to have been heated and may be an addition. A stair tower was located at the rear of the passage. A lower roof level covers the passage and shippon. In the later 17th century, a rear kitchen outshut was added behind the hall and inner rooms, entered through the hall. In the 19th century, a baffle entry was created, closing off the passage from the stair tower, and the rear outshut was raised with a boxed stair to the rear right. The roof of the outshut was raised in the 20th century, now flat, and a single-storey porch was added in the angle between the outshut and the rear of the shippon. The upper end to the right has two windows with 2-light casements at the first floor; on the ground floor, there are a 2-light and a 3-light casement to the hall, a half-glazed door to the inner room, and a hipped roof. The passage doorway is 4-centred arched with hollow-chamfered granite, and a step-stopped detail, and contains an early 20th-century half-glazed door. A 20th-century single-storey lean-to is attached to the front of the shippon. The right gable end is blank, while the side of the 2-storey rear addition has a single unglazed window at ground floor. The left gable end of the shippon has an upper ventilation slit, with a rebuilt end wall featuring 20th-century large granite quoins. The rear of the shippon has two 8-pane lights and a ventilation slit, incorporating an eaves door; in the angle to the rear addition is a 20th-century single-storey porch with a door and two windows. To the left, the 2-storey addition has two 20th-century casements to the rear, and one 2-light casement to the inner side, with a 20th-century stack to the rear. Internally, a ledged door leads from the entrance to the hall on the right, which has 19th-century cross beams. The stair was originally entered from the party wall between the hall and passage, with a remaining lintel in the wall. The fireplace has a chamfered granite flat lintel and one granite jamb. A solid wall rises to roof level, dividing the hall from the inner room. The rear outshut contains a kitchen to the rear of the hall and a dairy to the rear of the inner room, with slate shelves. A 19th-century dog-leg stair is located in the kitchen along the rear wall, and is boxed in.