Middlecott Farmhouse

Farmhouse. It likely has a core dating to the 16th century, with rebuilding and enlargement occurring in the early to mid 17th century. Modernisation took place around 1980. The construction is of plastered cob on rubble footings, with rubble stacks topped with 19th and 20th-century brick, and a slate roof (formerly thatched). The main block faces south and has a cross wing projecting to the rear on the west side. The main block appears to originate from a 16th-century three-room-and-through-passage house with an inner room at the east end. In the early 17th century, the service room was replaced by a cross wing containing higher-quality rooms, two of which are separated by a lobby. An 18th-century stair block was subsequently built to the rear of the passage, in the angle of the wings; this now contains stairs added around 1980. There are projecting lateral stacks to the hall and front room of the cross wing, and a projecting gable end stack to the rear room of the cross wing. The house is two stories high. The front has an irregular three-window arrangement of casements of various sizes and dates, including circa 1980 PVC windows on the left and late 19th to early 20th century timber casements with glazing bars on the right. A passage door is located to the left of centre, with a secondary service door to the former inner room (right of centre), both with 20th-century plank doors and small lozenge windows. The left room in the cross wing is slightly higher than the rest of the main block, with a hipped roof, as is the roof to the right. The rear room of the cross wing has late 19th-century three-light horizontal sliding sash windows with glazing bars on each floor. The stair block has three pigeon holes and a pantile roof; the chimney shaft of the hall stack incorporates some early 19th-century brick. The interior is of good quality. The former hall and inner room have late 16th to early 17th century chamfered and stop-chamfered spine beams, the former set rear of centre and the latter with a broad chamfer. The hall fireplace has a replacement lintel. The cross wing dates to the early to mid 17th century. The front room features oak plank-and-muntin screens to the passage and rear lobby, the latter incomplete. These screens have ovolo-moulded posts and head beams, with scroll details on the reverse. The two crossbeams are simply chamfered. The stone fireplace has an oak lintel with rebated ovolo moulding and keeled step stops, similar to the fireplace in the rear room of the cross wing. The roof has been raised, but some original timbers survive, including a closed large-framed truss over the passage-hall partition, containing a scroll-stopped doorway with an early plank door hanging on plain strap hinges at first floor level. Other early features may survive behind 19th and 20th-century plaster.