Osmonds Farmhouse

Osmonds Farmhouse is a farmhouse of early 16th-century date with major alterations in the late 16th and 17th centuries, and extensive renovation around 1980. It stands on a north-facing hillslope at Clyst Hydon.

The building is constructed of plastered cob on stone rubble footings, with stone rubble chimney stacks topped with 19th and 20th-century brick. The roof, now covered with asbestos tiles, was formerly thatched and is gable-ended.

The house is two storeys and follows a three-room plan. The layout results from the 1980 modernisation. Uphill at the west end is the kitchen. The dining room occupies the centre with a projecting lateral stack facing the front. A parlour sits at the east end, with a 20th-century stair rising from the lobby behind the front door. Originally, the building was a three-room-and-through-passage plan with the inner room at the west end. The passage back doorway has been blocked and the lower side screen removed.

The earliest structure was probably smaller, with the original roof confined to the passage and service end and only slightly overlapping the present hall. This earliest section was open to the roof and heated by an open hearth fire. The house was enlarged to its three-room-and-through-passage configuration in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, though it is unclear whether this occurred in a single phase. The hall was floored in the early 17th century.

The exterior features an irregular three-window front of circa 1980 casements with glazing bars. The passage front door is left of centre, containing a 20th-century plank door set behind a contemporary porch. Similar casements appear on the rear elevation, with a contemporary conservatory extending from the rear of the hall.

The interior is largely the product of 20th-century modernisation but retains significant late 16th and early 17th-century carpentry features. Oak plank-and-muntin screens stand at each end of the hall and are likely contemporary with the enlargement. The lower part of the upper hall screen has been replaced with concrete block where it rotted, and the shaped head of the doorway has been removed. The rear end bay of this screen formerly contained a second plain lower side door, presumably to a 16th-century stair, which was blocked in the 17th century. The cob infill was subsequently removed, exposing the backing lathes as a ladder with each element fitted into individual holes. The front of the screen retains traces of a late 17th-century painted strapwork design filled with bunches of flowers.

The hall lower side screen contains a Tudor arch doorway. The hall crossbeam is chamfered, though its pyramid stops were removed some years ago. The fireplace is brick with a chamfered and step-stopped oak lintel; the bricks are replacements.

The roof structure is predominantly early. One original truss is a side-pegged jointed cruck, smoke-blackened from the original open hearth fire, as are the purlins running across the bays on each side. Two additional jointed cruck trusses survive: one complete truss over the hall and the remains of another at the upper end. These are clean, showing no smoke damage.

The renovation around 1980 incorporated documentation and drawings made by Tom Coleman.