Barton Kirk

Description

Late C16, and little doubt preceded by some fortified dwelling occupying this peculiar site, which seems to have been chosen for its defensive capabities. Approached by a raised causeway. (PastScape)

Barton Church Farm, house and outbuildings, 250 yards W. of the church. The House is of two storeys with attics; the walls are of rubble and the roofs are slate-covered. The building is L-shaped with the wings extending towards the S. and E. The S. wing dates from the 16th century; the E. wing was added in 1628 by the then vicar of Barton, Lancelot Dawes. The porch was added in 1693, probably by Thomas Dawes.
The house contains some interesting remains of plaster-work.
The 16th-century S. wing retains many of its original stone-mullioned windows with moulded labels; one on the W. side is of four transomed lights; the doorway below it has chamfered jambs and square head. On the E. side is an original staircase-projection with a square-headed window. The E. wing retains some 17th-century windows, including one of five lights with a moulded label, E. of the porch. The porch is ashlar-faced and has a doorway with a triangular arch in a square head; above it is a panel with a moulded label, carved stops and the inscription "L. and A.D. Non est haec requies 1628. T. and E.D. 1693." The inner doorway has moulded jambs and a triangular arch in a square head; the nail-studded door has strap-hinges. Inside the building, the former Hall, in the S. wing, has exposed ceiling-beams and a fireplace with a wide segmental arch. The two staircases retain their original stone steps and newel, in whole or in part. In the E. wall of the E. wing is a fireplace with moulded jambs and square head. The first floor room in the S. wing retains parts of a late 16th or early 17th-century plaster ceiling, of two bays and formerly completely covered with elaborate ribbed panelling enclosing vine-sprays, rosettes, thistles and conventional scrolls; part of the plasterwork formerly on the soffit of a beam has been re-set above the fireplace; it has scrolled arabesques, masks and birds and below ten grotesque human faces from the ceiling; the date 1628 is modern. The roof of the S. wing has tie-beams, struts and curved collars. (RCHME 1936)

Comments

C17 farmhouse, possibly with some C15 remains and C16 wing in defensible site surrounded by bog and approached by raised causeway.
This was a manor house, of a small manor, although seemingly held by sub-tenants laterly the Dawes, who seem to have mainly been clerics and sometimes vicars of the nearby parish church. Arguably could be considered as a 'superior' bastle.