Underdown Farmhouse

UPOTTERY ST 20 NW 7/118 Underdown Farmhouse 22.2.55 GV II Farmhouse. C16 and C17, refurbished and enlarged in the mid - late C19. Local stone and flint rubble; with some cob; stone rubble stacks topped with C19 and C20 brick; thatch roof. Plan and development: 4-room-and-through-passage plan house built across the hillslope facing west-north-west, say west. At the left (south) end is an unheated service end dairy which has a spring under the floor. The other side of the passage is the hall with an axial stack backing onto the passage. Right of centre is the inner room (now used as the kitchen) and at the right end a parlour. There is an axial stack between these 2 rooms serving back-to-back fireplaces. Originally this was a 2 or 3-room-and-through-passage plan house. The right end parlour was added in the mid - late C19. Since most of the roof structure has been replaced it is not possible to determine the early development of the house although it seems likely that it began as some form of open hall house. The hall stack is probably mid -late C16 and the hall was probably floored over in the early or mid C17. There is a solid crosswall between the hall and inner room and it may be that the inner room is an addition. It appears to have been built (or rebuilt) as a parlour in the mid - late C17. At this time the hall was made into the kitchen. The mid - late C19 parlour has a former cheese loft over. The house is 2 storeys and there is a C19 wash house and woodshed outshot to rear of the passage. Exterior: regular but not symmetrical 5-window front of mostly mid - late C19 casements with glazing bars. There are a couple of older casement windows containing rectangular panes of leaded glass on the left and rear. The first floor window at the right end is removeable in order that the opening could be used as a loading hatch for the cheese loft. The passage front doorway is left of centre and it contains a C19 part-glazed plank door behind a C20 gabled porch. Towards the right end there is a secondary lobby entrance which contains a late C19 1-panel door behind a C20 porch. Close by the left end is an opening at ground level from which issues the stream from the spring under the dairy floor. The roof is half-hipped each end. Interior: the passage floor is laid with C19 bricks. No early carpentry is exposed in the passage or dairy. The hall has a large fireplace with Beerstone ashlar jambs and chamfered oak lintel. The crossbeam is hollow-chamfered without stops. In the inner room (the kitchen/former parlour) the fireplace is blocked and the axial beam is chamfered with exaggerated scroll stops. The roof was not available for inspection at the time of this survey but most seems to be made up of A-frame trusses. One boxed in truss, however, could be a jointed cruck. This is an interesting and attractive multi-phase farmhouse.

Listing NGR: ST2004605531