North Esworthy Farmhouse

Farmhouse. Dating from around the early 17th century, with alterations and extensions from the 18th and early 19th centuries. The farmhouse is constructed of whitewashed rendered stone and cob, with a slate roof (formerly thatched), hipped at the ends. It has an axial stack and a projecting front lateral stack. The original layout comprised a single-depth main range, four rooms wide, with a single-storey rear lean-to and a one-room plan rear left wing set at right angles. The original plan is not entirely clear; the three rooms on the right were likely built in the early 17th century, and the presence of opposing doors suggests the possibility of a former cross passage, which would indicate a lower end/kitchen to the left and a hall and unheated inner room to the right. However, this would result in a small hall. The room on the left may be an early 18th-century addition; it is heated by the axial stack, though the precise date of this back-to-back arrangement is unclear. The rear wing and lean-to, containing service rooms, are probably both 18th-century additions. The current entrance is located in the rear wing, with early 19th-century entrances facing the garden on the front. The front has an asymmetrical appearance with four windows. A projecting front lateral stack is located to the right of centre, and a glazed verandah with early 19th-century iron posts is positioned to the left. The verandah fronts two pairs of early 19th-century French windows with glazing bars, and two 2-light casements to the right, one 19th century and one 20th century. The ground floor has two 2-light casements, with 8 panes per light, one on either side of a false window; the first-floor window on the right is a late 20th-century plastic casement. The left return has a first-floor stair window with a round-headed light with glazing bars in a square-headed frame. Inside the two centre rooms, exposed scroll-stopped cross beams are visible. The fireplace in the lateral stack is partly blocked but may conceal older features. The adjacent room to the left contains a large open fireplace with dressed stone jambs and a lintel that extends almost the entire width of the room. A large 19th-century bread oven protrudes into what is likely a void on one side of the fireplace, and a deep cupboard on the other. Above this cupboard on the first floor is a plastered walk-in cupboard with a lime ash floor. The room on the left has a chamfered axial beam, which is likely from the 18th century. A 17th-century chamfered stopped doorframe leads to the first floor room on the right. Surviving roof features include side-pegged jointed crucks over the two centre rooms. The apex was not inspected but is said not to be smoke-blackened.