Outhouse Approximately 1.5 Metres South Of Broad Oak Farmhouse

CLYST HYDON AUNK ST 00 SW 2/8 Outhouse approximately 1.5 metres - south of Broad Oak Farmhouse GV II

Outhouse. C17, reroofed in the C19. Plastered cob on stone rubble footings with some brick patching; slate roof. Plan: the outhouse is on a north-south axis and stands close to the back of the farmhouse. It has a 2-room plan with a stair rising between them. The northern room (closest to the farmhouse is thought to have been some sort of cellar or cider store but the larger southern rooms was probably a stable or something similar. There is a hayloft or bunkhouse above. 2 storeys. Exterior: there are doorways each end and there is a hayloft loading hatch over the southern (stable) doorway. The east side has a doorway a little right of centre to the staircase. On the west side are 2 first floor windows, both are C17, oak-framed with chamfered mullions and are unglazed. The roof is gable-ended. Interior: has plain carpentry detail. The ground floor crossbeams are roughly chamfered and probably C17 in date but the roof was replaced in the C19 with low pitch A-frame trusses with plate yokes. The function of this outhouse is unclear but it is interesting to speculate on its use. Its proximity to the service end of the house suggests that it was used as some kind of cellar or store. However, if the first floor windows are in situ (that is to say they were not reset here in the C19) then this suggests some domestic function for the first floor. Even so it is unheated. Maybe it was a bunk house for itinerant workers.

Listing NGR: ST0462000281