Little Upcott

SY 09 SW ROCKBEARE

3/102 Little Upcott - 10.9.82 - II

House. Probably late C15 - early C16, extended in the later C16 or early C17, remodelled in the late C17, extended again in the early C18, and thoroughly modernised circa 1980. The walls are of plastered cob and said to be without footings; some C19 and C20 brick rebuilding and patching; 3 stacks, one cob, one stone rubble, one brick, all topped with C20 brick; interlocking red tile roof (formerly thatch). The 2 rooms of the south-west facing main block are the oldest part of the house but has been so thoroughly reorganised since the early C17 that the original layout cannot be ascertained at present. An C18 crosswing projects both front and back. An outshot on the outer side of the front room contains the C20 main stair. The right (south-eastern) end wall of the main block has been completely rebuilt in C20 brick and this end has a C19 or C20 extension behind. Main block has C20 brick right end stack and left room has a cob axial stack backing onto the crosswing which itself has front end stack. 2 storeys. Main block has asymmetrical 4-window front of late C19 and C20 casements with glazing bars. The doorway right of centre contains a C20 glazed door and an early C20 flat-roofed hood on wrought iron brackets. The other sides contain similar windows although one of the lights on the crosswing contains thin diamond panes of leaded glass and to the bar rear first floor level is a C17 oak window frame with one of its 2 chamfered mullions remaining. All the roofs are gable-ended. Interior. in the main block the ground floor carpentry detail is plain where exposed. In the right room the 2 slender crossbeams are C19 or even C20. In the left room the crossbeam was probably put up in the late C17 but is a reused beam and set upside down with joist holes along the soffit; it was obviously intended for plaster cladding. The fireplace is contemporary with a plain oak lintel and brick- lined oven with Beerstone dooway. The framed partition between the 2 rooms is plastered over but a small section of oak plank-and-muntin screen is exposed, too small however to show dateable detail. The main block roof shows the late medieval work. There are 2 face-pegged jointed cruck trusses, both joints augmented with buried slip tenons. Both are smoke-blackened indicating that the original house was open to the roof and heated by an open hearth fire. A third jointed cruck over the right room is side-pegged and clean. It is secondary, probably late C16 - early Cl7. The roof over the crosswing was entirely rebuilt circa 1980. The ground floor front room below has an early C18 soffit-chamfered and runout-stopped crossbeam.

Listing NGR: SY0450294259