Palmers Farmhouse

A farmhouse, probably dating back to the 17th century, with possible earlier origins, was significantly altered in the 18th century and modernized around 1910. The construction uses plastered cob on rubble foundations, with cob or stone rubble stacks topped with early 20th-century brick, and a slate roof from around 1910, including scroll-shaped end ridge tiles (formerly thatched). Originally, the house likely followed a conventional 3-room-and-through-passage plan, facing south-east, with an unheated room on the left (south-western) end. The main hall has a rear lateral stack, and the service room a stack backing onto the passage. The passage extends through a series of rear outshots, all under a lean-to roof sloping down from the main roof pitch. An outshot behind the hall features a likely 19th-century kitchen fireplace. The main block displays an asymmetrical 4-window front with a variety of late 19th and 20th-century casement windows, many having glazing bars. The hall window and two first-floor windows feature margin panes. A late 19th-century 4-panel door, with a contemporary gabled, slate-roofed porch, is positioned in the front passage, right of centre. The roof is hipped to the left end and half-hipped to the right. The outshots also have late 19th-century casements with glazing bars. The interior’s 17th-century features are confined to the service end, which is well-preserved. This ground floor room contains soffit-chamfered spine beams with run-out stops and half beams. A large fireplace is blocked by a good 19th-century grate and chimneypiece. Within the rear wall, an oak doorframe with a chamfered surround and scroll stops leads to a former projecting newel staircase, and a similar doorframe leads from the stairhead to the service end chamber. A cupboard on the stairhead is also from the 17th century, featuring a scratch-moulded plank door. The roof over the chamber is supported by a side-pegged jointed cruck. The supposed hall and inner room lack exposed carpentry, with an 18th-century A-frame roof structure using pegged lap-jointed collars. There is some good, plain 18th and 19th-century joinery detail on both floors. This is a modestly modernized farmhouse with an interesting development history.