Appledore Barton

Appledore Barton is a two-storey farmhouse with origins in the early 17th century, altered in the 18th century and extended in the 19th century. It stands in Burlescombe and is constructed of mixed rubble and cob, rendered and painted, with rubble extensions detailed in red brick. The roof is of corrugated asbestos with brick stacks. Most windows were replaced in the 1970s.

The building is oriented south-west to north-east. The principal domestic accommodation occupies the centre, originally a three-cell cross-passage house with service rooms and a linhay (an open-fronted animal shelter at ground level with a closed fodder store above). A large two-storey 19th-century extension projects to the north-east, with single-storey 19th-century kitchen extensions to the north-west rear.

The south-east farmyard elevation is rendered with irregularly spaced three-light timber windows. At its south-west end stands a six-bay linhay. The north-east gable is plain. The north-west rear elevation has several 19th-century lean-to extensions.

The modern entrance passes through the extensions, which contain a garage and service rooms including a kitchen with the remains of a 19th-century bread oven. The original north entrance, with a wide plank door, opens from the kitchen into the cross-passage. The former south entrance opposite is now partially blocked to form a window.

To the right of the cross-passage lies the former service range, converted to a sitting room with a 19th-century dark marble fireplace inserted into a larger earlier fireplace; the stop-chamfered bressumer for the earlier fireplace survives partially embedded in the wall. A doorway leads through a rear partition to two small timber staircases: the southern stair ascends to two interconnecting bedrooms; the northern stair (the main staircase) provides access to a landing, bathroom and three bedrooms.

North of the cross-passage stands the hall with the remains of a large stone fireplace with a massive timber bressumer, much altered in the 1970s, and evidence of moulded plaster coving. A narrow timber stair gives access from the hall to a sixth bedroom to the north.

A corridor runs the length of the ground floor rear, providing access to the former parlour with a blocked three-light window and joist-slots of a ceiling in chamfered beams. Beyond lies the 19th-century extension; both rooms were latterly used as agricultural stores.

The first floor contains six bedrooms and a bathroom accessed by three separate staircases and numerous interconnecting lobbies. A long rear corridor provides access to the large 19th-century extension at the far north-east end, which is also accessed via a flight of external stone stairs on the north elevation.

The south-western bedroom has an early 19th-century fireplace inserted above the large former kitchen fireplace. An interconnecting lobby between this room and the adjacent bedroom north contains the remains of a timber-framed chamber with hand-forged hooks in the ceiling. Given its location above the original kitchen fireplace, this may represent the remains of a smoke-bay or curing chamber.

The roof is much altered and survives only in part. Three original trusses remain within the roof space. At the south-west end of the central block is a jointed cruck truss, believed to be early 17th-century; its blade ends are visible in the bathroom and the bedroom immediately north of the curing chamber. North-east of the hall stack is a second truss with a cambered collar and chamfered timbers. North-east of the hall are the remains of a closed truss. All timbers are smoke blackened above ceiling level.

Throughout the building are numerous ceiling beams, both spine-beams and cross-beams, many of massive proportions with large chamfers and stops, together with smaller elements featuring finer chamfers and partially exposed evidence of internal timber framing. The joinery includes doors of both 18th and 19th-century date, including six-panelled raised-and-fielded doors and large plank-and-brace doors with strap hinges. The three staircases are plain. The northern stair, with moulded door frames at its foot and head, appears to have been inserted circa 1700. The 19th-century central staircase has simple stick balusters but is supported by an earlier hand-hewn structure. Opposite the main staircase stands a pair of moulded timber doorways with stop chamfers, believed to be 17th century or earlier. A similar moulded doorframe survives on the ground floor in the rear corridor, giving access to a larder which includes a cupboard with plank doors and strap hinges. Numerous wall-recessed cupboards throughout the building have simple joinery and plank doors.

The linhay is of pegged-timber construction including halved-and-pegged roof trusses, suggesting a construction date of circa 1800, with evidence of considerable later alterations including insertion of modern blockwork and nailed repairs to timbers. Lean-to sheds have been added to the north-west rear of the linhay. Immediately adjacent to the linhay on its south side, currently only accessible through it, is a room with a single window to the south and a blocked doorway to the house in its east angle.

Appledore is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086, though no known documentary evidence relates to the construction of Appledore Barton. A detailed examination of the building's phasing, provided in 2009, suggests an origin in the early 17th century with cob walls as the earliest elements, further alterations circa 1700, and later 19th-century extensions. The earliest mapping, the first edition 3-inch Ordnance Survey map of 1802, records buildings on site though their exact footprint is indistinct. The Tithe Map of 1837 provides greater clarity, showing the farmhouse set back from the road whilst another building, oriented at right angles, occupied the roadside. The 1888 first edition 1-inch Ordnance Survey map shows the roadside building removed and the farmhouse extended to its present footprint; the extension may have incorporated part of the roadside structure. For much of the 20th century the farmhouse was tenanted. The thatched roof is understood to have been lost during a fire in 1947. Appledore Barton has stood empty for a number of years.