Legars Upton Farmhouse

Legars Upton Farmhouse

A farmhouse of early 16th-century origin, substantially developed during the later 16th and 17th centuries, with further refurbishment in the 18th or 19th century, and part of the structure rebuilt in the early 20th century. The building is constructed of plastered cob on stone rubble footings, with areas of stone rubble and brick patching. The chimneys are of stone rubble stacks topped with 19th and 20th-century brick. The roof is thatched and hipped at both ends.

The house follows a 4-room-and-through-passage plan, facing west and built across the hillslope. At the left (south) end is the former kitchen with a gable-end stack. Between this and the hall is an unheated room probably used originally as a dairy or buttery. The hall has a projecting front lateral stack. The right (north) end room is separated from the hall by the passage; this was largely rebuilt in the early 20th century and is now used as a kitchen, with a projecting end stack. The evidence suggests the original early 16th-century house had a 3-room-and-through-passage plan, with the left end room being a secondary addition.

The surviving original roof indicates that the hall and inner room were originally open to the roof, divided by a low partition and heated by an open hearth fire. The inner room was floored over probably in the mid 16th century, and a chamber was jetted into the upper end of the open hall while the open hearth fire continued in operation. The hall fireplace was added in the mid or late 16th century. The hall was floored over in the early 17th century and the kitchen was added to the inner room end at around the same time. The right end of the house was so extensively rebuilt in the early 20th century that it is unclear whether it originally contained a parlour or service room. The roof over this end was rebuilt in the early 20th century, whilst the rest appears to have been refurbished in the 18th or 19th century, though it is heavily smoke-blackened—likely from a badly leaking chimney that leaked into the roof space.

The house is two storeys, with a 19th-century single-storey service block projecting at right angles to the rear of the former kitchen. The exterior features irregular fenestration with 5 ground-floor windows and 4 first-floor windows, mostly 19th and 20th-century casements with glazing bars. The exception is the first-floor window at the left end, which is a 17th-century oak 2-light window with a chamfered mullion. The passage front doorway is positioned right of centre, alongside the hall stack, containing an early 20th-century plank door with a contemporary slate-roofed porch. A secondary doorway has been inserted left of centre with an early 20th-century part-glazed plank door beneath a slate-roofed hood on raking struts. Another contemporary plank door at the left end provides access to a W.C.

Interior features include an oak plank-and-muntin screen on the hall side of the passage with chamfered muntins featuring step stops and a doorway with a cambered head, dating to the late 16th or early 17th century. The hall contains a large stone rubble fireplace with a cambered and chamfered oak lintel, and evidence of an internal jetty at the upper end. An early 17th-century crossbeam is richly moulded with no stops; the half beam across the front of the jetty has a different moulding and step stops. The upper end crosswall is plastered over with a blocked doorway.

Two original roof trusses survive, one at each end of the hall. They are plastered over below ceiling level, but their form indicates they are jointed crucks, heavily smoke-blackened from the original open hearth fire. The wattle-and-daub infill of the upper end truss is sooted on the hall side. The remainder of the roof, excluding the section rebuilt in the early 20th century, dates from the 18th or 19th century and was raised slightly at this time. It is carried on crudely finished A-frame trusses with spiked and pegged lap-jointed collars, the blackening of which is attributed to leaking chimneys.

The former kitchen has a 17th-century chamfered and step-stopped crossbeam, with a blocked fireplace that appears to be an 18th or 19th-century rebuild in brick. In the 20th century, the inner room dairy/buttery and former kitchen were divided off as separate accommodation.