Southhele Farmhouse

Farmhouse. Dating from around the late 16th century, with later refurbishment in the late 17th and early 18th century and 20th-century alterations. The farmhouse is constructed of rendered stone rubble and cob, with a corrugated asbestos roof, formerly thatched, gabled at the ends. It features rendered end stacks and an axial stack. The plan comprises a three-room and through-passage main range, with a hall stack backing onto the passage and a lower end to the right. A lower, unheated rear wing, likely used as a dairy with a granary above, adjoins at a right angle to the hall. Lean-tos are attached to the right end of the main range and the adjoining dairy. The hall and lower end underwent refurbishment in the late 17th century, and inner room fireplaces were added. The rear door of the through passage is blocked internally. A rear axial passage, likely created in the late 19th or early 20th century, provides access from the through passage to the inner room. The exterior has an asymmetrical four-window front; a break in the roofline to the right of the hall stack indicates rebuilding. A gabled porch is located to the right of the centre of the through passage, which has a good 17th-century front door with massive strap hinges. Contemporary timber casements are present, and the four-light hall window probably retains the original embrasure. A 16th-century plank and stud rear door leads to the through passage. Inside, there is high-status late 16th and later carpentry and joinery. The hall has an intersecting beam ceiling (beams now plastered), a staircase adjacent to the hall stack, an 18th-century window seat and cupboards, and a 17th-century ovolo-moulded doorframe leading from the hall into the rear dairy and now contained within the axial passage. A 20th-century hall fireplace probably obscures earlier features. The kitchen has a deep, hollow-chamfered stopped crossbeam. It contains an open fireplace with a timber lintel, a probably late 17th-century moulded mantel shelf, a hearth seat, and a bread oven. A change in ceiling height and plainer crossbeam in front of the stack suggests a possible rearrangement of the fireplace. The inner room features a Bolection-moulded late 17th-century chimneypiece, and also has deep, chamfered crossbeams. The dairy’s crossbeams are deeply chamfered with roll-stopped stops. Documentation belonging to the owners includes leases dating from the late 18th century, showing the house remained in the possession of the Southele family. A floor slab in Clayhanger Church, recorded by John Davidson in 1828, commemorates members of the Southele family with memorial dates from 1661 to 1722.