North Bulcombe Farmhouse

ST 02 SW CLAYHANGER

7/77 North Bulcombe Farmhouse -

GV II

Farmhouse. Circa early C16 origins, remodelled and extended in the late C16. Stone rubble and cob, colourwashed and rendered; bitumen-painted slate roofs (formerly thatched), gabled at ends; axial stack to main range, projecting end stack with set- offs to rear wing. Plan and Development: The core of the house is a 3 room and through passage plan main range, the lower end to the right probably always 2 storeys, the hall and inner room originally open to the roof timbers. The inner room was probably floored first, then the hall with an axial stack added backing on to the through passage. Rear left kitchen wing at right angles to the main range probably co-eval with the flooring of the hall. A single-storey lean-to at the rear of the main range is probably an C18 or C19 addition. The lower end partition of the through passage no longer exists and both the lower end and inner room have been subdivided into 2. Exterior: 2 storeys. Asymmetrical 2 window front with steps up to the through passage front door to right of centre; buttress to left of door. 3 ground floor and 2 first floor C20 casements. Interior: Rich in high status C16 carpentry. The hall has a richly-moulded late C16 intersecting beamed ceiling and good plank and muntin higher end screen with runout stops. Fireplace blocked but original lintel survives; doorframe with cranked head into curing chamber adjacent to stack. Several similar doorframes on ground and first floor. Deeply chamfered crossbeams to inner room and right end of lower end room; hollow-chamfered step-stopped crossbeam to kitchen wing, which has a blocked fireplace probably concealing earlier features. Roof Jointed cruck-side pegged roof-trusses to main range and rear wing; the feet of the crucks, except one, truncated in the lower end and the collars missing. Over the hall and inner room 3 trusses with evidence of sooting: one a complete jointed cruck truss including collar, the other two incomplete. A good example of an evolved late medieval house similar in character to traditional Somerset houses.

Listing NGR: ST0104022828