42, Higher Town

SAMPFORD PEVERELL HIGHER TOWN (south side) ST 01 SW Sampford Peverell 8/150 No. 42 - - II House, former farmhouse. Late C16-early C17, modernised circa 1986. Plastered walls, mostly stone rubble but with some cob; the stacks are plastered but the hall one appears to be ashlar stone and have its original chimneyshaft, both are topped with brick; slate roof, formerly thatch. Plan: 3-room-and-through-passage plan house facing north-west and built down the hillslope. Downhill at the left (north-east) end there is the former service end room which has a projecting gable-end stack. The hall has a large projecting front lateral stack and there is a newel stair turret projecting to rear at the upper end of the hall. At the right end is an unheated narrow inner room. The house appears to be a single phase building. It seems likely that the hall was floored over from the beginning. The service end however was rebuilt probably in the C18. Before that it contained 2 unheated small rooms divided by an axial partition, probably buttery and pantry. Farmhouse is 2 storeys. Exterior: irregular 4-window front of C20 pvc casements, most of them with glazing bars. A C20 bay projects from the right end (the inner room). The passage front doorway is left of centre and contains a C20 door behind a contemporary porch. The roof is hipped to right and gable-ended to left. Interior: retains most of its original carpentry detail. Only in the service end has it been replaced. Here there is a roughly-finished axial beam. On the lower side of the passage a small part of the original oak plank-and-muntin screen remains and. its headbeam provides the evidence for 2 original doorways to the service end. On the upper side of the passage there is another oak plank-and-muntin screen; this one nearly intact., it contains a qrqpliZheaded doorway. The hall crossbeam is soffit- chamfered with bar runout stops. The fireplace is plastered stone and has a soffit- chamfered and scroll-stopped oak lintel. Original crank-headed oak doorframes from the hall to the inner room and stair. Both have chamfered surrounds with lambstongue stops. The staircase is a C20 replacement. At the head of the stair a pair of oak doorways (both chamfered with lambstongue stops) and there is another similar doorway between the hall and service end chambers. The original crosswalls are oak-framed: close-studded with series of holes drilled into the sides of the studs to fix a ladder of lathes which provide the backing for the cob infill. The roof is carried on side-pegged jointed cruck trusses and although the roofspace was not inspected the owner reports that the timbers are clean.

Listing NGR: ST0257214203