Higher Vulscombe

SS 81 SE CRUWYS MORCHARD VULSCOMBE LANE 2/94 Higher Vulscombe - II Farmhouse. Probably a mid C18 remodelling of an earlier building. Whitewashed rendered cob on stone rubble footings ; slate roof, gabled at ends; end stack with brick shafts, end stack to wing. Plan: L plan, the main range 2 rooms wide with narrow rear service rooms including a former dairy in a 2-storey outshut. Central entrance into a lobby facing a door at the bottom of the main stair which has a half-landing and divides into 3; 2 flights giving access to the principal first floor rooms, the third flight rising to give access to the attic rooms in the outshut. The ground floor rooms are heated from the end stacks and the remains of a bread oven in the left end stack indicates that the left hand room may have been used as a kitchen at one time. A 1 room plan front left wing at right angles to the main range abuts it rather awkwardly - this too appears to have served as a kitchen. Although the plan form is consistent with an C18 date blocked windows and a doorway discovered at the right end of the main range during re-rendering suggest an earlier core and the outshut and wing could be C18 additions to an earlier, single depth building. 2 storeys. Symmetrical 3-bay front with a central C20 gabled brick porch and a complete set of C19 2-light timber casements, 6 panes per light. The slate roof is carried down as a catslide over the outshut which has timber casements and a blocked rear doorway to the dairy. Interior : The left hand room has a chamfered step-stopped cross beam. Other interior features are C18 or C19 including open fireplaces with brick lintels and C18 and C19 joinery. The main stair has a handrail sunk in the wall. A straight service stair leads from the kitchen wing to the first floor of the outshut. The roof trusses of the main range are circa late C19/early C20 collar rafter with tie beams. Over the wing the trusses have x apexes and are pegged indicating an C18 date. An unspoiled farmhouse with a particularly interesting late vernacular plan form linking the entrance to the stair and providing substantial service rooms and service accommodation with separate access. Higher Vulscombe is described as being first documented in the C18 in A Cruwys Morchard Notebook, 1066-1874 (1939) by Margaret C.S. Cruwys.

Listing NGR: SS8904611920