Seniors Guesthouse

SY 08 NE NEWTON POPPLEFORD EXETER ROAD, AND HARPFORD Newton Poppleford 5/56 Seniors Guesthouse -

• II

Guesthouse, former farmhouse. Probably mid-late C16 with major C17 improvements, modernised in late C19. Plastered cob on stone rubble footings, some late C19 repairs; cob or stone rubble stacks topped with C20 brick, thatch roof, concrete tile roof to outshots. 3-room-and-through-passage plan house facing north with the inner room on the left (eastern) end. Hall has axial stack backing onto passage and service end room has large kitchen end stack. Late C19 brick outshots across rear which include a stack. Main house is 2 storeys. Irregular front fenestration late C19 and C20 casements with glazing bars. Each of the 3 ground floor rooms has a window. That to the inner room is a C20 French window and there is a fourth tiny ingle-light to the hall fireplace. Only the chamber over the hall has a front window. The front passage doorway is to right of centre and contains a late C19 6-panel door with a C20 open porch with semi-conical thatch roof. Roof is half-hipped to left and gable-ended to right. The left end wall is possibly rebuilt in brick and includes a late C19 6-pane sash. Interior. The house was modernised in the late C19 and much of the early structure is hidden behind plaster of that date. Although no C16 features are exposed the well-preserved layout suggests a house of that date but much improved in the C17. All the partitions are plastered over. The service end room was improved in the mid C17. The crossbeam of that date is soffit-chamfered with unusual stops, a kind of reverse scroll with two nicks. The fireplace is probably contemporary but is blocked by a C19 grate. Nevertheless its massive size is evident. The cupboard to the left was probably originally a walk-in smoking chamber since it was connected to the fireplace through its side by an arch at hearth level. The hall fireplace is probably cob since its soffit-chamfered oak lintel is propped by oak posts each end. It is probably early C17. The axial beam here is soffit-chamfered with scroll stops. Against the fireplace the beam is carried on an oak post which suggests that the floor was inserted into a hall originally open to the roof. No carpentry shows in the inner room. Upstairs the roof trusses are boxed into the partitions and the roofspace is inaccessible. Although relatively little can be seen of the early house its structure appears to be well-preserved. Care should be taken here since any modernisation work is likely to uncover C16 or C17 features. For' instance the main crosswalls are timber-framed, almost certainly early, and may included plank-and-muntin screens. The roof too may be of considerable interest.

Listing NGR: SY0785889482