Elliots Farmhouse

Elliots Farmhouse

Farmhouse with a probable early or mid-16th-century core that was much rebuilt, rearranged and extended around 1700, then modernised around 1830. The building is constructed of plastered cob on stone rubble footings, with some brick facing (around 1700) plastered over. Chimneys are of stone rubble or brick with plastered brick shafts. The roof is slate, formerly thatch. The house follows a U-shaped plan with the main block facing south. This comprises a central entrance lobby and staircase with a rear corridor. At the eastern end stands the principal parlour with an end chimney stack, with another domestic room in a rear block at right angles behind it, also with an end stack. To the left of the main stair are two smaller rooms, the outer one served by an end stack, and a secondary stair is positioned here. A further rear block at right angles contains the kitchen with an end stack. The building is two storeys throughout with disused attics.

The front elevation is symmetrically composed with a 2:1:2-window arrangement of 20th-century replacement mullion-and-transom casements without glazing bars. The central bay projects slightly and contains an around-1830 six-panel door with a contemporary moulded doorcase and flat-roofed porch. The porch has slender Tuscan columns and a moulded entablature with a shaped vallance. The roof has plain eaves, with the central part lifted over the projecting bay and hipped at each end, flanked by tall chimney shafts with moulded coping. The rear blocks are gable-ended and contain 20th-century windows. On the western return wall is a secondary doorway to the rear corridor with a solid oak frame, chamfered surround, plank door with large studs and moulded cover strips, hung on strap hinges with fleur-de-lys finials. This probably dates from around 1700 despite its earlier appearance.

The interior largely results from the around-1700 rebuild as modernised around 1830, with the layout entirely suggesting 1700 work, implying the 19th-century modernisation was relatively superficial. The only visible evidence of early or mid-16th-century work survives in the right rear block, where the farmer reported finding a large timber window in Gothic style when replacing external render. This was apparently tall, sited at first floor level, suggesting it served an open hall. It was in good condition but was covered over.

Most joinery detail dates from around 1830, including the main stair with its open string, slender turned balusters and unusually heavy mahogany handrail. However, some two-panel doors of around 1700 survive, along with many contemporary solid oak doorframes with bead-moulded surrounds and applied architraves. The fireplaces are blocked by 19th and 20th-century grates, although the kitchen fireplace is said to have the machinery for winding a meat jack. The parlour features a remarkable ceiling of around-1700 ornamental plasterwork comprising two bays with ovals defined by bolection-moulded ribs, filled with naturalistic flowers and foliage in high relief with laurel sprays in the end panels. The secondary stair, also around 1700, is a winder stair around a circular-section newel post rising from ground to attics. The roof throughout dates from around 1700 and comprises a series of A-frame trusses on tie beams with pegged lap-jointed collars. In the attics, fallen old plaster reveals backing on water reeds rather than wooden laths.

Elliots Farmhouse, together with its forecourt wall and pavilion, forms an attractive group. It is a good example of around-1700 domestic architecture and follows a remarkably similar developmental pattern to the nearby Venn Ottery Barton, which similarly possesses forecourt walls and pavilion structures.