Hitts Farmhouse Including Barn Adjoining To East

CLYST ST LAWRENCE SY 09 NW 5/35 Hitts Farmhouse including barn adjoining to east 11.11.52 GV II

Farmhouse. Probably C16 origins with major C17 improvements, some C19 modernisation. Plastered cob on stone rubble footings, the front is lightly incised as ashlar; stone rubble stacks topped with C19 brick; thatch roof, a small part replaced with slate. Plan and development: 3-room-and-through-passage plan house facing south and built across the hillslope. At the left (west) end is an inner room parlour with a projecting gable-end stack. The parlour was reduced in size in the C19 when a stair was inserted alongside the hall crosswall. The hall has a rear projecting lateral stack. The rear of the passage is now blocked by a secondary stair. The right end room is a kitchen with a front lateral stack and large oven housing. Since the roof was not available for inspection at the time of this survey it was not possible to determine whether the house contains any evidence of C16 work, nor is it possible to determine the early structural history of the house in any detail. Nevertheless it seems likely that the house began as some form of open hall house. It is 2 storeys. Exterior: irregular 4-window front of late C19 - early C20 casements with glazing bars. There are 2 front doorways, the right one to the passage and the left one is a later insertion to the stairs; both contain early C20 part-glazed doors. The right end is hidden behind a C19 farmbuilding, the closest part of which contains the pumphouse. The main roof is gable-ended to left and to right is hipped down onto the adjoining barn roof. Interior: shows largely the results of C19 and C20 modernisations but these appear to have been mostly superficial and the original layout is well-preserved. On the ground floor the carpentry detail which is exposed is C17, the hall and kitchen have chamfered and scroll-stopped crossbeams. The parlour crossbeam is clad with plaster. All the fireplaces are blocked by C19 and C20 grates. The roof was not available for inspection at the time of this survey. There is a barn adjoining the right (east) end. It is probably C17 but was much rebuilt in the C19. It is built of cob on stone rubble footings with parts rebuilt in C19 English bond brick. It has a tile roof, formerly thatch. It has opposing full height doorways onto the threshing floor a little left (west) of centre and the front doorway is flanked by short projecting midstrey walls. There is a hayloft loading hatch in the right end wall and a former horse engine projecting to rear (its walls have been rebuilt with C20 concrete blocks). The main roof is hipped. The barn is mostly open to the roof of the C19 A-frame trusses but there is an apple loft and a C19 cider press.

Listing NGR: SY0352898710