Middle Woodbeer Farmhouse

Farmhouse. Dating from the early 17th century, it was refurbished in 1845. The construction is plaster on cob walls with stone rubble footings; later 19th-century work uses local stone rubble with brick dressings and some is entirely brick; stone rubble stacks are topped with 19th and 20th-century brick; and the roof is thatched. The house has an L-shaped plan and a 4-room layout facing south-east. The parlour, at the south-west end, has a gable-end stack. A straight flight staircase is located behind the front door, between the parlour and the next room, which was originally an unheated service room, likely a buttery. To the right of centre is the dining room or hall, with an axial stack backing onto a former kitchen with its own end stack. In the 19th or early 20th century, a partition was removed between the buttery and dining room, and another was built across the former kitchen. A 1-room plan dairy block projects at a right angle to the rear of the right (former kitchen) end. The layout largely reflects the original early 17th-century farmhouse but was modified in 1845. The parlour end is a complete rebuild from that date, including a narrow cheese loft at first floor level, accessed by an external timber staircase. The main staircase is also from the 19th century and may be on the site of a former passage. The dairy block is 19th century, thought to incorporate some earlier fabric. The farmhouse is two storeys high with rear, secondary lean-to outshots. The irregular four-window front features a mix of 19th and 20th-century casement windows, some with glazing bars, some without, and one (first floor right) with leaded glass. The main front door is left of centre, with a part-glazed door behind a 20th-century conservatory. A second door at the right end has a plank door. The roof is steeply pitched with a half-hip to the right and gable ends to the left. A Beerstone plaque inscribed "1845" is on the left-hand chimney stack. Internally, the parlour end and dairy block have wholly 19th-century features, and much of the joinery detail throughout the house dates from then. The former kitchen has a chamfered crossbeam. Its 19th-century refurbished fireplace retains a 17th-century chamfered oak lintel. The dining room/hall fireplace is stone rubble construction with a chamfered oak lintel that has scroll stops. The former buttery has a slender axial beam, chamfered with scroll stops. The roof of the main block (excluding the parlour section) dates from the early 17th century and is supported by large, side-pegged jointed crucks with cambered collars. The truss over the dining room/buttery partition was originally closed. The roof space was not inspected, but the farmer reports the timbers are clean.