Higher Upcott Farmhouse

Farmhouse. Dating from the early 17th century, it may have an earlier core, with a late 17th to early 18th century dairy extension, modernization in the 19th century, and further alterations around 1980. The main farmhouse is built of plastered cob on rubble footings. One stack is cob, while the other is late 17th to early 18th century brick on red conglomerate stone footings, both topped with 19th and 20th century brick. The roof is thatched, with corrugated asbestos on outbuildings and slate on the extension. The original plan consists of two rooms separated by a broad cross passage, which contains the stairs (now 20th century replacements) and slightly projects to the rear. Both rooms have end stacks. The left room was likely the kitchen, based on its fireplace size. The right-hand stack projects and is brick. A late 17th to early 18th century dairy extension projects at right angles to the rear of the right end. Modern 20th century outbuildings extend across the rear, along with a single-story 20th century extension on the left end. The main house and dairy are two stories high. The front has an irregular arrangement of windows, with four on the ground floor and three on the first floor, all 12-pane sashes, including some horned replacements. The front passage doorway now has a 20th century door with a contemporary gabled tile-roofed porch. The roof is gable-ended. Most rear windows are 20th century casements. Inside the main farmhouse, much of the original early 17th century fabric remains. The left-hand kitchen has two soffit-chamfered crossbeams with scroll-stopped stops. A large, similarly finished lintel is exposed above a blocked fireplace. The right room also has a soffit-chamfered crossbeam and half beam with scroll-stops, but its fireplace is blocked. The roof structure consists of four identical side-pegged jointed cruck trusses with pegged dovetail-shaped lap-jointed collars and carry trenched purlins and a ridge. The timbers are clean, as is the underside of the thatch, however, nearly all the common rafters show smoke-blackening, suggesting they were reused from a late medieval farmhouse. The spacing of the trusses indicates that the original farmhouse extended further to the right (north-east). The dairy has a late 17th to early 18th century crossbeam with a roughly-finished soffit chamfer, but the roof is inaccessible.