Old Campston

Old Campston is a long, low stone house situated on a hillside. The walls are sandstone rubble, largely reconstructed, and have a steeply pitched roof covered in new Welsh slate. A stone stack runs along the axis of the house. Modern oak mullioned windows with timber lintels are set into both long elevations. A doorway is located in a porch towards the left end of the north-west elevation, and another doorway is toward the left of the south-east elevation.

The interior retains much of its historic layout and fabric. The original plan comprised a single bay hall with a small inner room or parlour at its upper end (with a further small bay likely added later), and a former cross-passage now occupied by an inserted stack. These three original units of the late-medieval house are defined by cruck trusses, with the truss above the inner room now encased within a stone wall. A large parlour bay was added to the original hall house, probably replacing what would have been a byre in a long-house plan. The hall and original parlour are separated by a fine post-and-panel partition, likely from the open-hall phase, although not original to it. The partition has chamfered posts on the hall side and traces of probable 16th-century painting on both sides; on the hall side, possible trumpet or vase-like shapes are outlined in black, while on the parlour side, traces of several winged angels are outlined in black and show traces of other pigment. Both rooms have heavy stop-chamfered cross-beams and chamfered joists with run-out stops, dating from when the hall was floored around 1600. The fireplace has a modern lintel, based on the decayed original, and includes chimney stairs. The lower end of the house shows a later 17th-century layout through the position and decoration of the ceiling beams, and the many chamfered joists with ogee stops. This appears to have comprised a large parlour with a smaller entrance lobby to the north-west. Upstairs, two surviving cruck trusses are visible: one between the hall and inner parlour and one between the hall and the former passage bay. These are identifiable as being of the Monmouthshire type with substantial saddle, collar and tie-beam. The truss over the parlour partition has spurs connecting to wall plate and a broad fillet of timber to align the roof with the broader passage truss.