Bodinnick Farmhouse And Attached Front Garden Wall

Bodinnick Farmhouse and Attached Front Garden Wall

A farmhouse with attached front garden wall, dating from the early to mid 17th century with a re-used datestone of 1602, then remodelled and extended in the late 17th century. The building was further extended, refronted and dated 1765 with initials possibly reading IOB, followed by alterations and additions in the mid to late 19th century and a few later changes.

The main structure is built in granite rubble with granite dressings, the front elevation faced in granite ashlar. The roof is slate with ridge tiles, arranged as a 2-span slate roof. The front range has a gable end to the left with a granite stack shaft, a hipped end to the right, a rear lateral stack to the right with a brick shaft, and a gable end stack to the rear left range with a brick shaft.

The original plan consisted of two rooms and a passage. The right-hand room was heated from a rear lateral stack, while the left-hand room probably originally had a gable end stack. In the late 17th century, the interior was remodelled and a dairy with an apple loft above was added to the rear right. The apple loft is entered from a stair behind the first-floor room to the right and may originally have served as a closet. In 1765, the house was extended at the left end; the left-hand room became a large entrance hall, and a new room was added at the left end, heated from a gable end stack. The front was refaced in ashlar at this time. A parallel rear range was constructed as a kitchen to the rear left, heated from a gable end stack at the left end, and a stair hall was built at the rear of the original left-hand room. Later in the 19th century, a single-storey rear wing with a loft was added to the left as a scullery or kitchen, unheated. The front garden wall encloses a shallow garden and consists of granite rubble with granite coping, standing about one metre high and extending approximately 30 metres along the front; it dates to around 1800 and features a central gateway with plain piers and a wooden gate.

Exterior

The house is two storeys with a symmetrical three-window front. To the right, a tall chamfered plinth from the early house remains visible. The ground floor features a 19th-century two-panelled door with an overlight, set in a recessed doorway at the centre with a keystone. Above is a granite datestone with initials possibly reading IOB dated 1765. Large 19th-century 16-pane sashes with voussoirs and keystones occupy the positions to the right and left. The first floor has three 19th-century 25-pane sashes with voussoirs and keystones; the second window from the right is a blocked opening. The end window to the right retains a re-used datestone of 1602. Cast iron gutters with lion mask ornaments are fitted. At the right end, there is a 19th-century 16-pane sash with a timber lintel at ground floor and a 19th-century 20-pane sash at first floor.

Set back to the right is the dairy and apple loft of the late 17th century, featuring two-light 17th-century granite windows at both ground and first floor. Both windows have hollow-chamfered mullions and surrounds, with four-pane lights at ground floor and three-pane lights at first floor. At the left end, a blind gable end faces right, while the gable end facing left has two 20th-century 12-pane windows at ground floor. At the rear, to the right, there is a 20th-century 16-pane window at both ground and first floor, with a re-used chamfered granite lintel at ground floor. The rear wing to the left is single storey with a loft; it features a plank door on the outer side, a two-light three-pane 19th-century casement in the gable end, and a 19th-century two-light six-pane casement on the outer side. The rear of the dairy has a plank door at ground floor with a keystone and voussoirs; the first floor has a 19th-century two-light casement and a four-pane sash.

Interior

The entrance hall has a granite-paved floor, probably original to the early 17th-century left-hand room of the early house. A four-panelled 19th-century door provides access to the front rooms to the right and left. The room to the front right has a rear lateral fireplace with a 19th-century chimneypiece and an alcove on each side. The front left room has been substantially remodelled. In the kitchen to the rear left, the gable end fireplace has a chamfered granite lintel with step stops, re-used from an earlier phase. The ceiling incorporates 19th-century beams. The dairy contains an inserted fireplace to the rear with a cloam oven, a slate floor and slate shelves with racks for suspended shelves, and roughly hewn ceiling beams.

To the rear of the entrance hall, outside the original rear wall of the house, stands a dog-leg stair with stick balusters. At first floor, the room to the front left has an 18th-century two-panelled fielded door and a 19th-century chimneypiece. A small central chamber has a bolection-moulded architrave to the doorway. The doorway to the front right room also has a bolection-moulded architrave and a two-panelled bolection-moulded door. The doorway and door to the apple loft are similarly bolection-moulded. The room has a rear fireplace with a fine bolection-moulded chimneypiece and a bolection-moulded panel overmantel. A moulded plaster cornice formerly existed here. The apple loft has a coved ceiling and a short flight of stairs leading into it, with some remaining barley-twist balusters and a moulded handrail.

The roof trusses originally spanned continuously over the two front rooms to the right; these have been removed but remain on the site. The trusses featured roughly hewn principal rafters, halved and pegged at the apex, two rows of trenched purlins, and collars with a pronounced chamber, dovetailed, halved and pegged to the principals.

Historical context

Although 1602 is marked by the datestone and appears to be the original date for the house, it is possible this may not have been the principal building on the site, as a stable situated approximately 50 metres to the west shows high-quality stonework and may represent a fragment of a much larger house.