Talaton Farm Cottage Talaton Farmhouse

Talaton Farmhouse and Talaton Farm Cottage

A farmhouse and cottage of late 15th to early 16th-century origin, substantially improved in the later 16th and 17th centuries. A date plaque records major refurbishment in 1623. The building was thoroughly refurbished again in the early 19th century. The older parts are constructed of plastered cob on stone rubble footings, though much has been rebuilt in brick, including very early handmade examples. Brick and stone rubble stacks carry brick chimneyshafts. The roof is slate, replacing earlier thatch.

The house follows an H-plan layout, facing south-west. The main block has a four-room-and-through-passage plan with the passage roughly central, containing the main stair. The large room to the right is the lower end and contains an axial stack backing onto a small unheated lobby room now divided off as the Farm Cottage. The cottage occupies a former service wing with the kitchen towards the rear, which has a large inner side lateral stack. To the left of the passage is the former hall with a front lateral stack. The former inner room, now unheated and used as a kitchen, was probably originally a buttery. The left end crosswing, built as a two-room parlour crosswing with a front gable-end stack, has gone out of full domestic use.

The structural history is lengthy and complex. The original house occupies the main three-room-and-through-passage section of the main block, defined by an original full-height crosswall between hall and inner room. The remainder was probably divided by low partitions. Since the whole original roof is smoke-blackened, there must have been two open hearth fires, one each side of the crosswall. The 1623 date plaque represents a major refurbishment at that time. The early handmade bricks of the parlour crosswing, if dating to this period, would make this the earliest dated brick building known in Devon. The wagon roof in the parlour presents a dating problem: such roofs are typically considered 16th-century, often early 16th-century, raising questions as to whether the brick predates 1623 or whether cob walls have been replaced. The plaque is set in the rear wall of the main block, which itself was rebuilt in brick in the late 17th century, suggesting the house originally faced north-eastward and underwent significant interior reconstruction at that time. Early 19th-century modernisation included the installation of the main stair and probably led to the abandonment of the former parlour crosswing for domestic use. At this period the floor was removed and fenestration much altered; an upper floor has since been built over most of the crosswing.

The house is two storeys. The front elevation facing south-west presents an irregular five-window front with 19th and 20th-century casements. The passage front doorway, roughly central, contains 19th-century double doors behind a 20th-century porch. The former kitchen crosswing, now the Farm Cottage, has 20th-century casements and a 20th-century door. The former parlour crosswing retains a few 20th-century openings, some for agricultural use, while original windows here are blocked. The rear of the main block shows a symmetrical five-window front of late 17th-century brick with elliptical arches over the windows. Most windows are 19th and 20th-century casements, though some retain late 17th-century flat-faced mullion windows. The centre ground floor window blocks the passage doorway. Above the blocked doorway is a stone plaque carved with a coat of arms and the inscription "Will St Pole Edificacit 1623". The roofs are gable-ended. The kitchen stack has divided diagonal chimneyshafts, with the lower courses built of early brick.

The interior of Talaton Farmhouse is largely the product of 19th-century modernisation. All fireplaces are blocked by 19th and 20th-century grates. Most crossbeams are boxed in; the only exposed example, in the service end room, is of elm and unchamfered, suggesting it is later than the 17th century. The service end chamber contains fielded panel cupboard doors, and contemporary two-panel doors survive on the first floor. The original roof structure, though somewhat mutilated, displays superior craftsmanship. On most trusses the lower parts have been cut off. Originally all were side-pegged jointed cruck trusses. The hall-inner room crosswall is an oak-framed closed truss. The hall roof spans two bays; the centre and service end trusses have chamfered arch braces and carved foliage bosses, each including remnants of two sets of windbraces, the upper pair inverted. The service end truss is plain and without arch braces. The inner room roof is essentially one long bay but contains an intermediate truss of most unusual construction, probably unique in Devon. It is an A-frame of common rafter scantling with chamfered arch braces and clasped purlins set on top of blocks inserted into the top of the collar. The whole original structure is heavily sooted from the two open hearth fires.

The former parlour crosswing is a very interesting though somewhat dilapidated structure. Partitions and first floor structure date to the 20th century. The outer walls retain cupboard alcoves and blocked window embrasures, and the front has a fireplace on each floor, both missing their lintels and partly collapsed. The front section of the roof is rare and interesting: an open wagon roof of common rafter trusses with plain arch braces, never ceiled and clean. A very similar roof at Woodbeer Court, Plymtree, is smoke-blackened and dated to the late 15th or early 16th century.

Talaton Farm Cottage was not available for inspection at the time of survey. It is said to be very similar to the main farmhouse with most structural detail hidden, though its roof may be of interest.

Talaton Farmhouse is an important building. It possesses a superior late medieval roof including a most unusual intermediate truss. The former parlour crosswing is particularly significant. The handmade bricks here are of distinctive shape, longer, narrower and thinner than standard bricks. Even if dated to 1623, this represents the oldest dated brick building in Devon by more than fifty years. The question remains whether the wagon roof can be considered to date as late as 1623. In its original form it was a high-quality gentry house.