The Knoll

SY 09 SW ROCKBEARE Marsh Green

3/108 The Knoll - 11.11.52 - II

House, former farmhouse. Late C17-early C18, possibly earlier core, modernised in C19 and again circa 1980. Plastered cob on stone rubble footings, cob or stone rubble stacks topped with C19 and C20 brick; thatch roof. Main block has a 5-room plan facing south. The outer rooms are small unheated rooms. The room left of centre is the original kitchen served by an outer axial stack. The centre and right-of-centre room have an axial stack between serving back-to-back fireplaces. The entrance lobby and rear stair lie between the kitchen and centre rooms. At the left (western) end a low service block projects forward at right angles. This has now been converted to domestic use but was probably originally built as stables. Main block is 2 storeys. Irregular 4-window front of circa 1980 PVC casements with diamond patterns of leaded glass. The first floor windows have thatch eyebrows over. A fifth ground floor window has been adapted to a doorway and contains a circa 1980 door in the same style as the windows. The main doorway is towards the left end and contains a late C19 -early C20 plank door and an unusal porch with monopitch thatched roof. There is a sunken rectangular recess above it. The roof is hipped each end. The stable wing includes 2 circa 1980 casements and 2 late C19-early C20 plank doors and a single late C19 first floor casement with glazing bars and a thatch eyebrow over. The wing is gable-ended. The rear of the main block contains only 2 small single light windows. Interior: very little carpentry detail is exposed. The kitchen has a soffit- chamfered crossbeam without stops and the room right of centre has a soffit- oharifered crossbeam with runout stops; both are probably late C17-early C18. The central room has a round-headed alcove in the rear wall of the same date. All the fireplaces are blocked. The joinery detail is consistently C19 including panelled shutters for some of the windows. The roof of both blocks is carried on uncollared trusses of relatively slender scantling and carry staggered purlins. Although nothing shows earlier than the late C17 - early C18 the long layout of the main block suggests an adaptation of an earlier house.

Listing NGR: SY0404493754