Fishpool Farmhouse: rear range

This is a low-built farmhouse range, likely dating to the 17th century, situated behind the main 18th-century front range of Fishpool Farmhouse. The rear range, constructed of mixed brown and grey rubble, unevenly coursed, with remnants of whitewash, could easily be mistaken for an agricultural building were it not for the gable chimney and two small dormer windows. The steeply pitched roof is covered in regularly-coursed blue slate on the front slope and corrugated sheet on the rear.

The range has a two-unit plan on a north-south axis, facing east, with a single-unit addition at each end. The right-hand half of the east front of the original section is now partly obscured by a connecting corridor. A small, segmental-headed two-light window is visible to the left, while to the right of the doorway within the corridor, is a small two-light casement window. The eaves line is broken by two small, slate-clad gabled dormers, each containing a two-light casement window. The right-hand gable features a short, square, rendered chimney with a chamfered cornice. Attached to the south end is an added workshop or stable, containing a doorway with an old board door, a small square window with an internal wooden shutter, and a plain doorway with a board door, along with a rectangular pitching door in the gable above. A small window is present in the front wall of the northern addition, with a square, plain-glazed window at loft level in the north gable.

At the rear, the original range includes a low buttress near the north end, a modern two-light casement window, a larger three-light window offset to the right of centre, and a small shuttered opening near the south end. The northern addition, seemingly originally a one-unit cottage, has a segmental-headed doorway offset to the right, with a small segmental-headed window on either side – the left window having plain glazing, and the right window having an outward-opening wooden shutter. The rear elevation of the southern addition is blind.

Internally, the ground floor has two sturdy, chamfered lateral beams and exposed, undecorated joists to the boarded upper floor. An inserted enclosed staircase rises over the western beam, replacing a former stud-and-plank partition. The rear wall measures approximately 55cm thick, while the east gable wall is approximately 2 metres thick, containing a bricked-up bread oven in the rear corner and a deep cupboard in the front corner, likely the location of a former spiral staircase. The upper floor (now a store) features three collar trusses; the western truss has a pegged collar, the eastern truss has a nailed-on collar replacing the original, and the central truss has a lath-and-plaster partition.