Taylor'S Farmhouse

BRAMPFORD SPEKE SX 99 NW 3/14 Taylor's Farmhouse 11.11.52 - II Large farmhouse (the main range 33 metres long). Early C16, or earlier, with C17 alterations and additions. Cob, rendered, on stone plinth, with hipped thatched roof. Given the extreme length of the left-hand room relative to the rest of the house, and the unfinished character of the beams in that room, Taylor's may well have been originally a longhouse, with the shippon to the left of the through passage, the hall and other higher-end rooms, under a taller roof-ridge line to the right, and with a C17 back wing, possibly a kitchen extension. 2 axial stacks, one left-hand external end stack, and an internal lateral stack to the rear wing. 2 storeys throughout. Front: main doorway lies left of centre, with 3 windows on the left to each storey, three to the right at ground-floor level and four above. All upper floor windows are set high, 6 under eyebrow eaves. Casements replaced except for 1st floor window, which is of 4 lights with oval moulded jambs and mullions. To the rear, a newel stair-turret occupies the corner formed by the wing and the main range. The lower-end rear elevation has a pantiled lean-to along its full extent. Left-hand room (possibly the shippon before conversion) with 5 heavy beams, all rough and unshaped. Through passage with concealed lath and plaster screens. Lath and plaster partitions also between main rooms at higher-end and a rear corridor, fireplace (altered) backing onto passage with site of former oven and smoking chamber now forming a 3.3 metre blocked space. Right-hand rooms with heavily chamfered beams, one (in extreme right-hand end room) with central support and mortices indicating a former partition. Between the two axial stacks are three jointed crucks (two revealed, one ceiled), side-pegged, and these together with the raised 1st floor level at this point mark the position of the original open hall. (Roof ceiled and not accessible). Hall and lower-end also with rafters and bench purlins. Back wing ground-floor room with 3 heavily-chamfered beams and an unchamfered fireplace lintel.

Listing NGR: SX9258798517