Baxters Farmhouse

UPOTTERY ST 20 NW 7/91 Baxters Farmhouse - - II Farmhouse. Late C16-early C17, probably earlier origins, refurbished in the late C19. Local stone and flint rubble; stone rubble stacks, one with a Hamstone ashlar chimneyshaft, the other 2 topped with C19 brick; partly slate, part corrugated iron roof, formerly thatch. Plan: 3-room-and-through-passage plan house facing south-west and built down the hillslope. Uphill at the left (north-west) end is a parlour with a gable-end stack. The wide passage is next to it and the other side is the hall with an axial stack backing onto the passage. Downhill at the right (south-east) end is a kitchen with a gable-end stack. Very little early carpentry is exposed in the house and therefore it is not possible to determine the early structural history. What little that is exposed is late C16 and C17. The house may have begun as some form of open hall house. It is now 2 storeys. Exterior: irregular 4-window front of mostly late C19 - early C20 casements with glazing bars but there is an earlier window, first floor right end, which contains rectangular panes of leaded glass. The passage front doorway is left of centre and it contains a late C19 part-glazed plank door behind a contemporary gabled porch. There is a secondary door into the kitchen at the right end and it too contains a part-glazed plank door. A straight join shows in the front wall just right of the passage but it is not known what it represents. The roof is gable-ended and steps down from the slate section over the hall to the corrugated iron section over the kitchen. Interior shows mostly the result of the late C19 refurbishment. For instance, no beam shows in the parlour and the fireplace is blocked by a C19 grate. The half beams in the passage and the axial beam in the hall are chamfered with step stops. The hall fireplace is stone rubble with an oak-framed front with chamfered surround (the supporting posts have large scantling). The kitchen has a large, probably C17, fireplace, stone rubble with chamfered oak lintel. The ceiling here was replaced in the late C19. At this time the farmhouse was occupied by a butcher and this room was converted to a slaughterhouse. The roofspace is inaccessible and the roof trusses are boxed into the first floor partitions. Baxters has been little modernised in the C20. More C16 and C17 features are probably hidden by C19 plaster and, if the early roof remains it may provide evidence of the early structural development of the farmhouse.

Listing NGR: ST2064208677