The Court House

The Courthouse is a house dating from the early to mid-17th century, with a later 17th-century wing. It’s constructed of plastered granite rubble and cob, with a thatched roof featuring gabled ends. Rendered projecting gable end stacks are topped with thatch weathering and have been heightened in brick.

The west wing at the front is the original house, consisting of two rooms and a cross passage leading to a stair turret at the rear. The larger room on the right was the parlour, and the smaller room on the left was the kitchen, both originally heated by gable end stacks. The partition on the lower side of the passage and the newel stairs have been removed. In the late 17th century, a wing was added to the rear of the lower left-hand end, creating an overall L-shaped plan and featuring another gable end stack. A later lean-to outshut is situated in the angle at the rear. The house is two stories throughout.

The north front has a regular three-window range, which is wider to the right. The windows are 19th-century 2-light casements with glazing bars and crown glass. A doorway is located to the left of centre, featuring an 18th-century moulded doorcase and a fielded 6-panel door with glazed top panels. A later 19th-century gabled porch has a moulded architrave and segmental arch. The gable end of the rear wing is set back to the left and has a single window on each floor. The wing's left-hand return has a two-window range, all with 19th-century 2-light casements with glazing bars and some crown glass. An oven, located at the lower end of the main range, projects into the angle with the rear wing and has granite weathering.

Inside the main range, a complete 17th-century roof remains, featuring straight principals, lapped, halved, and pegged collars, supplemented by nails, and morticed apices. The roof of the wing is a roughly made, pegged roof, likely dating to the late 17th century. The main range has a large kitchen fireplace in the lower room, with a cambered arch of large granite voussoirs and two granite ovens. The fireplace in the right-hand parlour has a chamfered timber lintel, with damaged stops and a relieving arch above. Both rooms have chamfered cross beams without stops. The first floor room at the higher end on the right has moulded plaster cornices, a double ovolo and bolection moulded chimneypiece, fielded 2-panel doors (one on the ground floor and three on the first floor), two 4-panel doors (the small centre panels set side by side in moulded doorframes), and panelled internal shutters to the windows. A doorway in the wing, with a chamfered wooden doorframe and lozenge stops, leads to a room with a chamfered ceiling beam and a chamfered lintel over the fireplace.

The house was historically used for the Court Leet until around 1847. It is an interesting example of an early 17th-century two-room plan house with a later 17th-century rear wing. Notably, the kitchen is the smaller of the two original rooms. The exterior has undergone little alteration since the 19th century, and despite some 20th-century alterations to the interior, many high-quality original interior features remain, including the unusual granite arched kitchen fireplace.