Bakers Dairy Cottage Bakers Farmhouse

Bakers Farmhouse and Bakers Dairy Cottage

This house, now divided into two dwellings, originated in the late medieval period and was presumably modernized in the 17th century, with substantial early 18th-century upgrading including refacing in brick. The building comprises a cob structure on stone rubble footings with the front elevation faced in Flemish bond brick with blue headers. A corrugated asbestos roof covers the gabled ends; the building was thatched until at least 1956. The structure has end stacks and two axial stacks, all with 18th-century brick shafts.

The plan is arranged as a T shape: a west-facing single-depth main range four rooms wide, with a cross passage positioned to the left of centre in Bakers Dairy Cottage. The building shows complex evolution. It originated as a late medieval open hall; the position of the surviving smoke-blackened truss suggests the left end (Bakers Dairy) was always the lower end. The house was presumably floored and had stacks added in the 17th century, with the hall stack backing on to the passage, though 18th-century alterations have obscured this building phase. A surviving cruck truss at the right end of Bakers Farmhouse indicates the main range may have been extended at the higher end in the 17th century, creating a three-room-wide higher end. In the early 18th century, the house underwent substantial upgrading: the front elevation was refaced in brick and refenestrated, and the centre room of the higher end was remodelled as an entrance hall. The lower end room was refurbished as a high-quality parlour, while the extreme right end room functioned as the kitchen. The rear wing, which includes an 18th-century stair, may also date to this period. Axial passages were introduced on both first and ground floors. A dairy with granary over at the right end, rendered with a corrugated iron roof, may be 18th-century or later. A 20th-century single-storey lean-to kitchen has been added to the south-east corner between the rear wing and main range, and there is also a 20th-century addition to the rear of Bakers Dairy Cottage.

The exterior presents two storeys with an asymmetrical 3:4 window front and 20th-century porches in the 3rd and 6th bays. Seven first-floor 20th-century two-light casements with two panes per light are present; five ground floor sashes with segmental brick arches and boxed frames feature two-pane glazing, presumably a 20th-century replacement of smaller-pane 18th-century sashes or casements.

The interior is rich in high-quality early 18th-century features, with Bakers Farmhouse being particularly unspoiled. The entrance hall contains a richly-moulded 18th-century plaster cornice and an early 18th-century panelled wall cupboard. The left-hand room has re-sited 17th- or early 18th-century panelling on the crosswall and a massive, probably 17th-century open fireplace with a timber lintel. The right-hand room has a large open fireplace with a bread oven projecting into the dairy. The left-hand room in Bakers Dairy features a high-quality early 18th-century decorated plaster ceiling with a richly moulded cornice, the mouldings returning where interrupted by window openings. A plaster frieze extends along both sides of the central plastered-over crossbeam, and an oval motif with a central rose decorates the ceiling on the fireplace side. The 18th-century stair, situated in the rear wing of Bakers Farmhouse, has turned balusters to the first flight and a Chinese Chippendale balustrade to the second flight. Numerous 18th-century two-panel doors survive in both houses. Bakers Dairy also retains an 18th-century fitted wall cupboard and drawer in one of the first-floor rooms, and Bakers Farmhouse has a good early 18th-century first-floor fireplace with an eared architrave.

One truss from the late medieval roof survives in Bakers Farmhouse over the left-hand room. The truss is infilled with plaster sooted on the left (north) side, presumably marking the south end of the medieval open hall. The collar is mortised into the principals, which are mortised at the apex with a diagonally-set ridge. Access to the ridge to the right (south) of this truss was very limited at the time of the 1987 survey, but the apex of the roof appears to be a replacement south of the medieval truss. The feet of a jointed cruck truss survive over the extreme right (south) end of the range, though the apex was not seen at the time of survey.

This is an extremely interesting evolved house, rich in high-quality early 18th-century features. Early 18th-century brick is uncommon in Devon. Local place names in Awliscombe and Broadhembury parishes indicate that brick was made locally, and according to local tradition, there was a brickfield at Dulford, just north of Bakers Farmhouse and Bakers Dairy.