Lower Pithayne Farmhouse

YARCOMBE ST 20 NW 7/168 Lower Pithayne Farmhouse 25.3.82 - II Farmhouse. Dated 1832 but an earlier core is suspected. Roughcast local stone and flint rubble; stone rubble stacks topped with C19 and C20 brick; thatch roof. Plan: L-plan farmhouse. The main block faces south and is built across the hillslope. It has a 3-room plan. The left (west) end room is a small parlour, the centre room is a dining room and between them is an axial stack serving back-to-back fireplaces. At the right (east) end there is the entrance lobby and main staircase. The rear block projects at right angles to rear of the right end. It contains the kitchen with a stack backing onto the main block and there is an unheated dairy/buttery to rear. 2 storeys with lean-to outshots to rear. Exterior: regular 4-window front of C19 casements containing rectangular panes of leaded glass and there are more similar windows on the other sides. The first floor window left of centre is blind. Below is a Hamstone plaque recording the rebuilding of the farmhouse in 1832 by Sir T.T.F.E. Drake. There is a lean-to porch on the right end with its outer round-headed arch flush with the main front. The doorway is on the right end and it contains its original (1832) 6-panel door. Directly behind the porch is the stair window; it is tall and narrow and contains C19 coloured glass margin panes. The roofs of both wings are gable-ended. Interior contains plain C19 carpentry detail including crossbeams with narrow chamfers and brick fireplaces with plain oak lintels. It also contains a great deal of C19 joinery detail. The roof was not inspected. This is a well-preserved C19 estate farmhouse of modest proportions.

Listing NGR: ST2476508976