Lower Marsh Farmhouse

Lower Marsh Farmhouse

House, formerly a farmhouse. Early 17th century, possibly with an earlier core, enlarged in the late 17th to early 18th centuries, modernised in the 19th century and again around 1970. Constructed from plastered stone rubble, possibly with some cob; stone rubble chimney stacks with 19th and 20th century brick chimney shafts; slate roofs.

The building is arranged in a U-plan. The main block facing south-east contains a three-room plan and dates to the early 17th century, with two one-room plan wings at the rear of either end, probably added in the late 17th to early 18th centuries. Both front rooms have end stacks; the left (south-western) stack is a large projecting kitchen stack with an oven projection. The unheated central room is an entrance lobby with stairs rising to the rear; the stair landing projects slightly backwards. The main roof pitch is carried down over the lobby between the two wings. The left rear wing has a projecting outer lateral stack. A disused axial stack in the main block probably served the first floor central chamber. On the right (north-eastern) end is a single-storey two-room extension built around 1970. The rest of the building is two storeys with attic rooms added to the main block in the late 17th to early 18th centuries.

The three-window front elevation is asymmetrical and comprises mostly 19th and 20th century casements with glazing bars, including a twenty-pane sash on the ground floor to the right. A late 19th century plank front door sits left of centre, with a hood carried over a contemporary canted bay window adjacent to the right. The left window is flanked by late 19th or 20th century buttresses. The roof is steeply pitched, hipped at each end, and contains three forward-facing dormers. The right end has the flat-roofed extension of circa 1970. Each rear block has a hipped roof.

Interior

The entrance hall contains a 20th century crossbeam which may line the position of a demolished through-passage screen. The right room was modernised in the 19th century and its original fireplace is now blocked by a 19th century grate with a good contemporary chimneypiece. However, the early 17th century crossbeam is exposed; it is ovolo-moulded with scroll stops, indicating this was the parlour. The left front room has a soffit-chamfered and scroll-stopped crossbeam. The fireplace here is large with a disused oven, indicating this was the kitchen; it is partly blocked. The lintel is covered by a board with moulding along the bottom, possibly dating to the 17th century. The chimneypiece is 19th century. In the front wall near the fireplace is an early 18th century round-backed cupboard with a solidly-made door retaining one H-hinge. A cupboard in the rear wall has a panelled door hung on H-hinges.

In the rear block-room behind the kitchen, the fireplace is blocked and has a 19th century chimneypiece, but the ceiling has an early 18th century plaster cornice moulded with a broad ogee. The other rear block room, now a bathroom, was formerly a cold store or dairy, with a plain, unchamfered crossbeam. The stairs are a late 19th or 20th century replacement of the originals, although the gap through the solid wall at first floor level is propped by a large 17th century turned oak post. The first floor chambers have exposed crossbeams, soffit-chamfered with scroll stops except over the parlour where a possibly reused beam has late 16th to early 17th century step stops. A presumably reused 16th century oak round-headed doorframe leads from the landing to the chamber in the left rear wing. Most joinery detail is 19th century, though some solid square-section doorframes and plain plank doors may be earlier. The main roof is carried on a series of late 17th to early 18th century A-frame trusses with pegged lap-jointed collars.