42, Higher Town

This is a late 16th and early 17th century house, formerly a farmhouse, modernised around 1986. It is situated in Sampford Peverell. The building is constructed from a mix of stone rubble and cob, with plastered walls and slate roofing, originally thatched. The stacks are plastered, with the hall stack appearing to retain its original ashlar stone chimneyshaft topped with brick.

The house was originally designed with a 3-room-and-through-passage plan, built down a hillslope. The original layout included a service end room with a projecting gable-end stack, a hall with a large projecting front lateral stack, and a newel stair turret projecting to the rear of the hall. An unheated, narrow inner room is located at the right end. The house appears to be a single-phase build, with the hall likely floored over from the start. The service end was rebuilt in the 18th century, having previously contained two smaller, unheated rooms, probably a buttery and pantry, divided by an axial partition.

The external appearance is irregular, featuring 4-window front with modern PVC casements, many with glazing bars. A modern bay projects from the right end, and the passage front doorway is located left of centre, leading to a contemporary porch. The roof is hipped to the right and gable-ended to the left.

Internally, much of the original carpentry detail remains, with replacement only in the service end where a roughly-finished axial beam is present. Fragments of an original oak plank-and-muntin screen remain in the passage, with the headbeam showing evidence of two original doorways to the service end. An almost intact similar screen with a roughly-headed doorway is on the upper side of the passage. The hall crossbeam is stop-chamfered with run-out stops. The fireplace is plastered stone and features a soffit-chamfered and scroll-stopped oak lintel. Original crank-headed oak doorframes from the hall to the inner room and stair, are surrounded by chamfered surrounds with lambstongue stops. The staircase is a 20th-century replacement. At the head of the stair are a pair of oak doorways, also chamfered with lambstongue stops, and another similar doorway connects the hall and service end chambers. The original crosswalls are oak-framed, close-studded with holes drilled into the sides of the studs to fix a ladder of lathes for the cob infill. The roof is supported by side-pegged jointed cruck trusses; although the roofspace was not inspected, the owner reports the timbers are clean.