Stapleton Farmhouse

Stapleton Farmhouse is a farmhouse dating from the 17th and 18th centuries, although it has medieval origins. It is built from roughly cut and squared ham stone, with ashlar stone at the south end and around the bay window. The roof is thatched, featuring a half-hip on the north side and a coped gable on the south side, with stone slab chimney stacks topped with traditional baffle tops. The building is single-storey with an attic and consists of four bays.

The first bay has a two-storey angled bay window with a coped gable supported by shaped kneelers, topped with a gabletted finial and weathervane. This window features one large light and three smaller lights, with similar hollow-chamfered mullioned windows of two lights in the second bay and three lights in the third and fourth bays. The third and fourth bays also have three-light attic casement windows. All windows are rectangular and leaded. Between the third and fourth bays, there is a boarded door with a glazed panel, sheltered by a deep rustic timber and thatched porch.

On the north gable, there is an additional leaded timber casement window and an old boarded door at first-floor level, accessible by a flight of stone steps. There is a later extension at the rear. Although the interior was not seen, it is reported to have a cross-passage three-room plan, with some deep-chamfered beams and a nine-panel ceiling in the hall, which features a cambered-arch fireplace. The roof structure combines jointed crucks and post-and-truss elements at the north end, likely remnants of a hall house. One chimney is dated 1688, and the bay window is a reused feature from Bower Hinton. At the rear, there is a small 19th-century addition that may have served as a horse engine house.