Higher Edgeworthy

Higher Edgeworthy is a house likely dating back to the 17th century or earlier. It is built of whitewashed cob with axial and right-end stacks, both with rendered shafts, and has a thatched roof, hipped at the left end and gabled at the right. The right end of the roof is slightly lower and has a slate covering. The original room layout suggests a single-depth arrangement, with four rooms of varying widths, the two outer rooms being narrower than the central rooms, which are divided by a central entrance leading to a straight staircase. The left-hand central room contains an axial stack backing onto the staircase, while the right-hand central room has a stack on its right end. The initial layout is not fully understood, but the left-hand central room was probably the early 17th-century hall with an unheated room to its left. The present staircase occupies the position of a former through passage, and the right-hand central room served as the lower end, potentially rebuilt in later times. A narrow room at the right end, beneath the slate roof, was likely added as a service room. The house was formerly divided into two cottages. A 20th-century lean-to is located at the rear right. The house has two storeys and an asymmetrical three-window front with a centrally positioned, gabled 20th-century porch. A further door is on the extreme left, leading into the former inner room (now used as a store), and another on the front, to the right, into the narrow right-end room. Various small 19th and 20th-century timber casement windows, some with glazing bars, are present. Several interesting features are reportedly concealed behind plaster within the house. Specifically, a boxed-in cross beam in the left-hand central room exhibits a chamfer and likely stop-chamfered spine beams with run-out stops. A 20th-century grate obscures an earlier fireplace said to have a lintel dated 1603. Parts of an oak 17th-century plank and muntin screen remain between the two left-hand rooms, with chamfered muntins and bar stops. The lower end fireplace and ceiling beams are also concealed; the original fireplace had a large bread oven projecting into the right-hand room. The first floor and roof space were not inspected, but the layers of thatch suggest the presence of early roof timbers, and the possibility of a medieval roof cannot be discounted. This is an interesting vernacular house dating back to at least the 17th century and is likely to contain hidden 17th-century features.