Castleton Farmhouse

Castleton Farmhouse

A Grade II* listed building with a long history of occupation and alteration. The house is rendered and limewashed externally, probably over local lias limestone rubble, and roofed in Welsh slate. It comprises a three-unit single-depth range with a small wing added to the north-east end, rising to two storeys overall, though the east end has a significantly higher roofline.

The south-facing elevation displays three windows on each floor arranged without regular alignment, none positioned directly above another. From the left, there is a projection containing the kitchen stair, followed by late 20th-century two-light casements on both ground and first floors. A large blank wall section preserves the outline of the original cross-passage doorway, marked by a four-centred arch with plain surround. Further windows follow, including a 20th-century glazed porch with a door set into a three-light early 16th-century window retaining a head with sunk chamfers and spandrels, accompanied by a dripmould with square stops carved with crosses. The taller eastern section features a 19th-century two-light casement on the first floor positioned within a blocked three-light window of which only the dripmould survives, while below sit late 20th-century French doors set into a blocked four-light window with its dripmould remaining. Three ridge stacks rise from either gable and by the cross-passage. The west gable end of the higher roof is slate-hung. The east gable contains a 20th-century window in a probable enlargement of an early opening, with a steel casement above in an opening of increased size.

The north elevation reveals an apparently 19th-century single-bay wing projecting from the higher section, featuring a two-light casement above a westward-facing door and a gable stack. The main range shows a 20th-century two-light small-paned casement above a small 19th-century window, while the lower main range section is markedly narrower than the higher part. At the angle sits the stair projection, roofed with a pent connection to the higher section and windowless. Beyond this are a three-over-six-pane sash below a 19th-century casement, followed by extensive blank walling including the blocked cross-passage arch. A 20th-century two-light casement below and smaller 19th-century casement above conclude this elevation. A 19th-century lean-to attached to the west gable obscures the ground floor of the main range and includes a boarded entrance door on the north.

The medieval planning remains clearly recognisable, comprising three main rooms per floor, though light 19th-century partitions were introduced during improvements accompanying the addition of the north wing. The Service Room originally housed the cross-passage between two now-blocked doors, but was converted to the Kitchen in the 19th century when a lean-to scullery was added. An intermediate detached kitchen may have existed previously. The Kitchen contains an inserted fireplace and a winding stone stair in an outshut with a crossed slab roof and plain two-centred stone doorway. The Hall possesses a filled fireplace and a single very large chamfered ceiling beam with round stops. Early insertion of this ceiling and floor has been suggested, which would indicate the upper doors once opened to a gallery, though this remains uncertain. A second winder stair with modern timber treads leads from the north door.

The Parlour displays two large moulded plastered beams, with ceiling compartments decorated with multiple fleur-de-lys. A dressed stone fireplace features a lintel composed of two massive cantilevered stones. The northern end was partitioned as a corridor to access the north wing through an existing vaulted passage with a 16th-century pointed-arch door featuring broach stops, evidence that the floor has been lowered and that a predecessor structure may have occupied this position. The north-east corner was partitioned to form a cloakroom extending through the wall thickness into what may have been a garderobe. The first floor displays floor height changes evident in paired stone doorways with dropped floor levels, repeated in the doorway into a limeash-floored garderobe in the north-east corner. All three first-floor rooms are divided by partitions; only the Great Chamber at the east end was historically heated. Its fireplace is now blocked, but the bressumer survives, elaborately carved with heraldic and symbolic figures—a lion, stag, fleur-de-lys, and four different interlace designs. No roof structure remains visible; it is believed to have been replaced, likely during the Victorian refurbishment.