Mayshill Farmhouse

Mayshill Farmhouse

This is an old farmhouse of probable 15th-century origin, substantially altered in the 17th and 19th centuries and in the course of restoration at the time of survey in October 1984. Attached to its east side is a new farmhouse dating from the early 18th century, with some later alterations.

The old farmhouse is built of random pennant rubble with a double Roman tiled roof (replacing earlier stone tiles) and earth and lime mortar, mostly earth. The new house is constructed of finely coursed pennant rubble with stone dressings, a half-hipped pantiled roof with brick stacks to the rear and some courses of stone tiles at the front eaves.

The old house originally had a three-room plan, comprising a room to the east, a central open hall, and a smaller room to the west. A brewhouse was added to the rear at a slightly later date, forming an L-plan. The north front is of one-and-a-half storeys with three windows. Formerly there were doors to the right and left with a central porch having a stone tiled pitched roof and a small lancet window to the left. Two small gables are present, to the left and over the porch (the latter over the hall to the right). All doors and windows are of 20th-century restoration. The right return has a door and small light, and the right return of the rear brewhouse has a window. The rear has the brewhouse attached to the left with a door and window, a blocked window in the gable end, and the main house has four windows and a door with two large gables containing two windows to the left and one to the right. A small single-storey addition is present to the right.

The new house has a front to the south of three storeys with three windows. The ground floor has two wooden cross windows with wedge-shaped heads and keystones, and a tall central eight-panelled door with a 19th-century flat stone hood on brackets. The first floor has a sash window to the left, a central 19th-century round-headed window with a two-light casement in the lower section and painted upper section under a relieving arch with limestone imposts and keystone, and a cross window to the right. The outer windows have slightly cambered heads. The second floor has three two-light casements with 15 panes each. Projecting quoin strips and an eaves cornice are present. The right return has three windows at ground floor with cambered heads—a sash to the left and two blocked to the right—three windows at first floor and three at second floor, all blocked except a second-floor right two-light casement. A two-light cellar window is present to the left. The left return has a two-light window at the second floor left, with the gable stack of the old house attached to the wall. The rear has two two-light casements at ground floor, the upper one lighting the stair, and a door with a small porch. The first floor has a two-light casement to left and right, with three blocked and painted two-light casements under the eaves.

The interior of the old house contains a former kitchen to the east with chamfered and scroll-stopped beams, closely spaced joists, and a chamfered and stopped fireplace lintel. Suspended from the ceiling is a fine bacon-rack with shallow moulding and a row of dentils along each side, with a ball-pendant at each corner. The south wall is battered; other features were removed during restoration.

The interior of the new house has a dog-leg stair to the rear of the hall with a narrow central well formed by two straight flights joined by winders, a moulded handrail, turned balusters, and an open string. The front right room has raised and fielded panelling with a moulded cornice, and was originally the best parlour. The rear right contains a little parlour, while to the left are the servants' hall and pantry.

The house was owned by the Smyth family of Long Ashton. A probate inventory from 1741 includes a description that shows the old house was in concurrent use at that time.