Old Beaupre Farmhouse

Old Beaupre Farmhouse

This two-storey farmhouse dates from the 14th century, with a ground floor store at the south end and accommodation above. It is a four-bay building constructed of coursed limestone rubble with a battered base. The front elevation is rendered, while the rear elevation is part painted. The roof is slated with a discontinuous pitch that steps down at the south end; the modern roof covering has been renewed. A large clustered chimney stack stands at the north end, with a modern axial stack at the south.

The front elevation contains no original fenestration. At the north end, a section of the elevation has been raised at eaves level to create a pent-roofed dormer lit by two windows. Below this are two larger windows. A 16th-century four-centred doorway, in dressed stone with plain chamfered jambs, is set to the west. At the south end is a narrow two-centred doorway with simple convexly moulded jambs and broach stops, possibly dating to the 14th century; it is glazed behind. Modern windows to the right-hand side and above appear to occupy original openings. A stone staircase rises to a former granary at the far south end.

The south elevation is unlit, though the south end of the range shows numerous putlogs. The west elevation at the south end is unrendered with ashlar quoining to the south gable. Two pairs of multi-paned casements sit beneath the eaves, with modern opening and an outhouse below. A modern lean-to conservatory has been added to the west elevation. Behind it, an early wide arched opening with a two-centred head of voussoirs is visible on the rear wall, now blocked, with an enlarged window opening at first-floor level piercing it. Three randomly sized casements occupy the elevation above. At the far north end is a full-height mono-pitched extension with slated roof, which returns across the south elevation of the south range of the manor house; it is lit only at ground-floor level.

Interior

The plan consists of four bays entered on the east side, with three rooms on each floor except for the byre range at the south end. At the north end is a living room, originally the kitchen, with two large fireplaces set in the north gable wall beneath shallow voussoired arches springing from a central pier. Ovens are positioned to the east and west jambs. A cantilevered corridor at high level, constructed in timber and plaster, runs along the west side and is inscribed "I Butler 1664". Four exposed beams with broad chamfers featuring torus and hollow stops run across the space. A four-centred doorway leads into the kitchen, lit on the west by two modern windows. Another four-centred doorway on the south wall opens into the hall. The kitchen contains three exposed beams running east to west with broad chamfers and hollow stops. The two exposed beams in the hall, running on a north-south axis, display similar detail. The third bay contains no exposed features other than a two-centred doorway on the south elevation. The south end is used as a store.

A modern stair in the west extension leads into a central partitioned chamber on the south side through a doorway with depressed Tudor arch. The north wall contains a dressed stone fireplace with a four-centred head. A timber gallery to the west of this room provides access to a further chamber to the northwest of the main south hall block of the manor house via a doorway with four-centred head and chamfered jambs. The central and south chambers have been partitioned to create two smaller rooms in each. On both ground and first floors, many windows have deeply splayed reveals, suggesting original openings of early date. The surviving roof structure at the north end retains a central truss with cambered collar and three trenched purlins.