Great Porthamel Farmhouse

Great Porthamel Farmhouse is a largely 16th-century farmhouse, with 18th-century additions and alterations. It is built of rendered stone with a slate roof, hipped at the east end. The original plan included a near-central cross passage leading into a former four-bay open hall to the right, with a lateral stack. To the left of the cross passage was a heated room, possibly a kitchen, and above it a great chamber extending over the cross passage. A small closet was situated in the narrow southern bay. A late medieval rear wing, at a right angle to the main house, originally extended to the right, containing a granary. A narrow building, possibly a stair tower, led from the corner of the heated room to the south. These wings were demolished around 1975. At the north end of the farmhouse, there's a pair of 18th-century dairies, likely built on the footprint of a single-story medieval building.

An early Tudor period two-story porch stands over the entrance to the cross passage, featuring a moulded two-centred arch with a hood mould that descends to square carved terminals. The farmhouse has 19th-century six-pane sash windows within segmental-headed openings on the ground floor, and four-pane sashes in gabled raised dormers above. A 19th-century farm kitchen was added at the south end, including a bay window on the south face, which has been reglazed. The rear windows and those where the wings were demolished have been replaced. The porch has internal side seats, and the walls are rendered. The east gable end has two windows on each floor.

The farmhouse was not accessible during inspection in April 1995, but it is known to contain important interiors. The three roof trusses in the hall are particularly noteworthy, exhibiting chamfered scissor rafters with halved pendant posts, which originally featured carved bosses. The spandrels are filled with pierced cusped boards. There are three tiers of purlins, with wind braces to the lower two tiers. The principal rafters sit on stub bearing plates, which may have originally projected internally and had carved bosses, but these have since been removed. The trusses over the great chamber are simpler, with arched brace collars and a close-studded truss separating the inner closet. A four-centred doorhead in the structure running south from the south end suggests it was a stair tower. The chamber above the porch features a panelled vault with moulded timber ribs. The dairies at the north end have a central cross beam and windows to the gable end. Wall paintings were recorded in 1962.