Catlake Farmhouse

SS 80 NE CADELEIGH 4/54 Catlake Farmhouse - II Farmhouse. Circa early C16 origins, early C17 remodelling, some C19 rebuiding, 1960s re-roofing. Cob on stone rubble dressings, colourwashed and rendered to the front elevation ; asbestos slate roof (formerly thatched), gabled at ends; left end stack, front lateral stack with set-offs, rear lateral stack. Plan: The present plan is a single depth main range, 4 rooms wide with an approximately central front door into a stair hall. An internal jetty at the right end proves that the house was originally an open hall. The precise extent of the medieval building is not clear as the left hand (lower) end of the house appears to have been remodelled or rebuilt in the C19. A date of 1630 on a jetty beam at the right end of the house suggests that the inner room, at the right end may have been floored at that date and the hall floored subsequently in the C17. Alternatively the inner room may always have been 2 storey and the date may refer to the flooring of the hall. In the circa early C19 the house seems to have been divided into two : the lower end may have been rebuilt at this date and extended by a 1 room plan addition at the left end; a stair was inserted into the passage. A straight stair was added against the rear wall of the C17 hall and the only access between the 2 halves of the house is now via service rooms and an axial passage in a rear lean-to, although there is a blocked doorway from the former cross or through passage into the higher end. The house was re-roofed in the 1960s. 2 storeys. Asymmetrical 5 window front with a wide C20 front door to the former through or cross passage approximately in the centre, with a flat porch canopy on brackets. Various C20 casement windows. Interior The C17 hall is virtually complete : open fireplace with a chamfered lintel ; ovolo-moulded cross beam with bar step-hollow stops. Plank and muntin screen to the inner room with muntins chamfered and stopped at the level of a hall bench - the bench is probably a replacement as it is fixed with nails. A deep jetty above the screen has a date of 1630 and th initials NB carved on it. The other ground floor rooms are plain ; C19 iron grate in room to left of former passage, which contains a stick baluster stair with a ramped handrail and replaced newel. The dated jetty beam is extremely unusual : if it refers to the flooring of the inner room it argues a surprisingly late date for the flooring of the hall ; it may, however, refer to the date of the flooring of the hall.

Listing NGR: SS8990808352