Rydon Farmhouse And Rydon Farmhouse

Rydon Farmhouse and Rydon Cottage are two houses that originally formed a farmhouse, probably dating back to the 16th and 17th centuries. A datestone indicates modernisation in 1707, with further renovation and division into the two separate dwellings occurring in 1986. The construction is primarily of plastered cob on stone rubble footings, with some parts rebuilt or extended using 19th and 20th century brick. The stacks are mostly of stone rubble, topped with brick, and the roof is thatched.

The main block of the building faces south-east onto Ottery Road, with rear blocks projecting at right angles from each end. The original core of the farmhouse was a three-room-and-through-passage plan, although two service rooms remain to the southwest of the passage, separated by a central axial stack. The main hall is at the right end, with a projecting front lateral stack, and a separate parlour block projects at right angles to the rear. Rydon Farmhouse occupies the rear parlour block, hall, passage, and the first service room. Rydon Cottage occupies the second service room and original room of the main block, along with the 19th and 20th century brick rear block at right angles behind.

The building is two storeys throughout with an irregular four-window front featuring mostly 19th and 20th century casement windows, predominantly with glazing bars. The oldest windows are located in the right end bay and in the rear block, containing rectangular panes of leaded glass. The front passage doorway to Rydon Farmhouse is located slightly right of centre and has a 20th-century plank door with a contemporary monopitch thatched hood. A stack built of local brown conglomerate sandstone with large dressed quoins and a limestone ashlar plinth stands to the right of the doorway. The lowest course of the original limestone chimney shaft remains, the remainder having been rebuilt in brick in 1707, documented by a limestone date plaque bearing the initials ECL. The main block's roof is hipped to the right and gable-ended to the left, with the left end wall rebuilt in late 19th century brick. The doorway to Rydon Cottage is in the rear block, and dates from 1986, as do the windows there.

Only Rydon Cottage was accessible for inspection; the rear block had been extended and rearranged, with all visible features dating from 1986. In the second service end room of the main block, a roughly finished crossbeam of indeterminate date and a 19th-century brick fireplace were noted. Although the roof was inaccessible, the lower part of a side-pegged jointed cruck roof truss suggests that a 16th or 17th century roof also survives over Rydon Farmhouse. The farmhouse is also believed to contain 16th or 17th century carpentry detail.