Milton Farmhouse

ST 00 SE 3/86

PAYHEMBURY Milton Farmhouse

II

Farmhouse. C16 and C17, re-roofed and modernised in the late C18 - early C19, renovated circa 1980. Plastered cob on stone rubble footings; stone rubble or cot stack with plastered chimneyshafts; asbestos slate roof. Plan and development: 4-room-and-through-passage plan house facing south-west. In fact the left (south-west) end room is a holiday cottage added circa 1980 onto the lower end of the main farmhouse. Lower end parlour with former end stack backing onto the cottage. The main stair rises from the passage behind the parlour. The hall has an axial stack backing onto the passage. At the right end is a small unheated inner room. It is now used as a kitchen but formerly was a service room, probably buttery, pantry or dairy. The hall then served as the kitchen. The house was thoroughly modernised in the late C18 - early C19. The roof structure was replaced at the same time. Thus it is difficult to determine the early development of the house. Nevertheless the inner room chamber jetties into the hall proving that it originated as a C16 open hall house. 2 storeys with secondary lean- to outshot across the back. Exterior: front is heavily buttressed and has a regular but not symmetrical 4- window front of circa 1980 casements with glazing bars. Passage front doorway is roughly central and contains a late C19 - early C20 4-panel door behind a contemporary gabled porch on plain posts. Roof is gable-ended. Interior: shows mostly the result of the late C18 - early C19 modernisation and most of the structural detail is hidden behind plaster of that date. Nevertheless the early layout is well-preserved. The fireplaces are blocked by C19 and C20 grates although part of a late C16 - early C17 hollow-chamfered oak lintel shows to the hall fireplace. All the ceiling beams are boxed in although there is evidence of an internal jetty at the upper end of the hall. Passage rear doorway has a late C16 - early C17 oak doorframe with cambered head and chamfered surround. Roof is carried on late C18 - early C19 A-frame trusses with spiked lap-jointed collars and X-apexes. Care should be taken during any internal alterations here lest hidden C16 or C17 features be disturbed.

Listing NGR: ST0809900659