Great Wotton Farmhouse

COLEBROOKE SX 79 NE 5/70 - Great Wotton Farmhouse

• II

Farmhouse. Probably C16 origins, rebuilt and enlarged in early C17, modernised in C18 and C19. Plastered cob on rubble footings; stone rubble stacks topped with C19 and C20 brick; thatch roof, L-shaped house. Long south-facing main block has a 30room-and-through-passage plan with large service room (now converted to a garage) at right (east) end. Hall and passage section break forward a little from the main front. C17 kitchen wing at right angles to rear of inner room. C20 outshot blocks rear passage doorway in angle of 2 wings. Hall and inner room have rear lateral stacks and kitchen has end stack. 2 storeys. Regular 5-window front comprising a variety of C19 and C20 casements with glazing bars and at right end first floor level the 4-light window has C17 oak franc and includes 2 ovolo-moulded mullions. Below that window is C20 wide garage doorway. Front passage doorway is said to have been open until 1910 when C17-style doorfrane erected to take genuine C17 plank door hung on strap hinges with fleur-de-lys finials and with moulded cover strips making a 20-panel front. Roof is gable- ended. The right end is partly rebuilt with C20 brick. Interior: the main block shows only C18 and C19 plaster and joinery detail although the earlier layout survives and earlier features are probably hidden, notably the hall fireplace. A broad coved cornice at the upper end of the hall could be evidence of a C16 or C17 internal jetty. The service roan is divided from the passage by a full height cob crosswall and contains plain chamfered crossbeams. The kitchen wing has exposed C17 features including an oak door frame with an ovolo- moulded and scroll stopped surround from the C20 outshot and the crossbeam is also ovolo-moulded with scroll stops. The stack though was rebuilt circa 1920 after the collapse of the original. The roof throughout was raised and rebuilt in the C18 with A-frame trusses with pegged lap-jointed collars; those over the kitchen range of more slender scantling. In the left (western) gable end of the main block the former lower roofline shows internally in the cob. According to the owners the farm was leased from the church up until 1910 and the terms of the lease obliged the tenant to keep the passage open and provide food and drink there to anyone passing through. This was ended with the sale of the property and at that time the church introduced the front passage door.

Listing NGR: SX7558298440