Belle Vue

Belle Vue is a three-unit lobby-entry house of one-and-a-half storeys with the entrance positioned to the left of centre. The building is listed at Grade II.

The front elevation features close-studded timber framing on a high rubble stone plinth. Small-scantling posts run above and below the mid-rail, with slightly wider full-height posts defining the bays, diagonal braces, and brick nogging laid on edge. The roof is old slate with overhanging eaves. An external stone stack rises at the right end with a brick shaft, while a brick ridge stack stands to the left of centre.

The main entrance contains a panelled door within a doorcase surmounted by a dentilled canopy supported on brackets. This is flanked by 12-pane hornless sash windows in moulded frames. To the right is a shopfront with a panelled door between oriel canted bay windows, beneath a continuous canopy with dentilled frieze. The oriel windows may have been replaced; each has a narrow horizontal metal rail and neither opens. Three gabled half-dormers with plain bargeboards rise above the ground floor, aligned over the two ground floor windows and the shop door. These contain hornless sashes, mostly without glazing bars to the lower sashes. A ramp and brick steps with timber treads lead to the front door, with three steps rising to the shop door, all surrounded by a cobbled pavement. The north gable end is rendered on either side of the external stack.

The rear is built into a bank with a lower wing. To the right of the wing, the main range is weather-boarded and painted, with inscribed plaster visible towards the top and a narrow boarded door with small light. A continuous outshut to the left of the wing is weather-boarded over brick, with a boarded door and small window at its north end, probably 20th century. The rear wing is random stone under a slate roof with red brick dressings and a small brick eaves stack. Its south side has a planked door and wooden casement, both under segmental heads, with a 20th-century gabled dormer above the casement containing a wooden casement. The north side has a window and gabled dormer in similar style.

A brick lofted stable was added to the left end of the house with a continuous slate roof. A late 20th-century arched brick buttress supports the southeast angle. The structure was converted to a garage in the 1950s and now has double boarded doors to the front and a boarded loft hatch above. The south gable contains a part-lit boarded loft door under a segmental brick head, reached by stone steps. To the rear is a boarded door under a segmental brick head to the left with a loft hatch to the upper right.

Interior

The hall lies to the right of the lobby entrance and contains a stone fireplace with a shallow-chamfered timber lintel and slightly tapered hood. An inglenook with a settle occupies the left of the fireplace, with a salt niche to the rear wall. A boarded door to the right of the fireplace leads to the staircase, which is not quite in its original position. The ceiling has two shallow stop-chamfered spine beams and plain joists. A box-framed partition wall with diagonal braces faces the fireplace, featuring a boarded door to the left; this doorway was originally positioned to the right and would have led to a heated inner room. Both the boarded door and the hall entrance door have hatches for serving drinks. The box-framing continues to the rear wall of the hall and is partly visible inside the brick outshut, with panels showing wattle infill with laths and lime render in places. The former inner room served as a shop from the 19th to 20th centuries and retains a Victorian interior. Two shallow-chamfered spine beams, possibly replaced, span the ceiling. A Victorian cast iron fireplace in a moulded timber surround occupies the end wall. The walls feature dado panelling and the floor is suspended oak. A boarded partition to the rear contains two narrow doorways leading into the outshut; the right doorway opens to a Victorian staircase at right angles. Visible box-framing on the original rear wall includes a short stub wall at right angles, which may relate to an earlier wing or lean-to structure. To the left of the lobby entrance is the current kitchen, formerly the outer room, with an Aga against the chimney stack, probably blocking an earlier fireplace.

The rear wing is divided axially by a partition. The ceiling contains two shallow-chamfered spine beams with run-out stops and plain joists. To the left of the gable wall is a large brick fireplace with a bake-oven fitted with a cast iron door, and to its left stands a large copper wash-tub in a brick seating. To the right of the gable wall are two niches, possibly for storing beer. On the opposite wall, against the hall fireplace, evidence remains of a further brick bake-oven, now mostly infilled. A tall chamfered post extending to the first floor, positioned against this oven, may be the newel post of the original staircase. The rear wing and outshut contain some pitched flooring; that in the pantry is laid in a diaper pattern.

From the hall, a 19th-century timber staircase runs straight but curves towards the top. It features plain balustrading and a moulded handrail, though it has been enclosed by a later partition. Marks on the first floor indicate the position of an earlier staircase. The three upstairs rooms have been subdivided by 20th-century partitions and some timberwork is concealed. The south bedroom contains a small fireplace. The box-framed partition between the central and north rooms is exposed, revealing a tie-beam truss with collar and struts, and a contemporary central doorway. Carpenter's marks appear on the south face of the truss. One lapped purlin is visible; the upper one is concealed. The tapering fireplace hood transitions from stone in its lower part to timber-framing above. Over the former shop, the north room is Victorian in character, with oak floorboards laid over earlier flooring. Marks in the floor also suggest an earlier staircase location. The first floor fireplace is now covered over.

The stable retains a hay rack against its north wall. Much of the cobbled floor was removed when converted to a garage in the 1950s, though some remains to the rear. The north wall, originally external, is weather-boarded within the stable, though timber-framing is partly extant in the loft with panels infilled with vertical wattles and daub. A simple tie-beam truss, pegged and numbered, spans the space.