Jerwoods Farmhouse

Jerwoods Farmhouse

Farmhouse, mid-to-late 16th century (possibly with an earlier core), with 17th and early 18th century improvements, and modernisation around 1970. The building is constructed of plastered cob on stone rubble footings, with stone rubble and cob stacks topped with 20th century brick, and a thatch roof.

The house follows a 3-room-and-through-passage plan, facing south and built across a gentle hillslope. It is 2 storeys high. The original layout comprises an unheated inner room at the west end (though the first floor chamber above is heated by a gable-end stack), a central hall with a large axial stack backing onto the passage, and a service end room with a rear lateral stack against the corner. The original building was likely an open hall house with a hall fireplace, and the roof appears to have been built clean rather than raised later. The inner room may have been floored from the beginning, though the current stairs are 20th century. The west end appears to have been rebuilt at some point, reducing the size of what may originally have been a heated parlour. The service end has undergone extensive alteration, with a stack inserted and the space subdivided, possibly in the early 18th century or as late as the 19th century. The hall was floored over in the early or mid-17th century.

The south-facing front is irregular with 4 windows, mostly 20th century casements, some with rectangular leaded panes. A couple of windows may date to the 18th century, while the hall window is particularly interesting—a 4-light window with moulded oak mullions dating possibly to the early or mid-17th century, later refashioned with flat faces in the early 18th century. The passage front doorway is 20th century, sheltered by a contemporary stone rubble gabled porch. The rear fenestration and porch are similar in character. The roof is gable-ended to the left and half-hipped to the right.

The interior retains a good deal of early carpentry detail. The oak plank-and-muntin screen running along the lower side of the passage may be original, plain on the service room side but with chamfered muntins and straight cut stops on the passage side. The original doorway head, either a low Tudor arch or crank head, has been slightly altered. The service room features plain carpentry, with both the fireplace oak lintel and crossbeam having rough soffit-chamfers. The hall is particularly fine, with a fireplace featuring Beerstone cheeks moulded with triple rolls and a soffit-chamfered oak lintel. The lintel appears to be secondary, suggesting the fireplace may have been altered when the hall was floored. At the upper end of the hall stands an oak plank-and-muntin screen similar to that in the passage, containing a Tudor arch doorway, with a soffit-chamfered crossbeam having step stops. The inner room has a soffit-chamfered axial beam with lambstongue stops on the hall end only. The first floor retains no exposed early carpentry except for the lower parts of the original roof trusses: a series of clean side-pegged jointed crucks with cambered collars.

The house was visited in 1985 by Commander EHD Williams, who produced a short account and ground plan. His analysis broadly agrees with the above assessment, though he suggested a starting date of around 1500.