Castle Farmhouse

Castle Farmhouse is a former inn that later became a farmhouse, dating from the 18th century. It is constructed from local lias stone that has been cut and squared, with ham stone dressings. The roof is made of Welsh slate and features plain gables, along with red and grey banded brick chimney stacks. The building stands three storeys high and has four bays. It includes a plinth, band courses, and rusticated quoins, with 12-pane sash windows set in keystoned architraves. The third bay on the lower level has a 19th-century door with a rectangular fanlight, framed by a moulded architrave and topped with a moulded flat stone hood supported by shaped brackets. There is a tall single-storey extension on the north-east gable, which has a hipped roof and plain casement windows. The interior has not been seen. Historically, this farmhouse was established on the site of the medieval Whitehall Nunnery. It was known as The Bell Inn by 1813 and later as the Castle Inn by 1825. By 1840, it had become the largest coaching inn in the town, but by 1856 it had been transformed into a farm. The property was vacated in 1978, and since then, most of the farm buildings have been converted or demolished.