Higher Park Farmhouse

SS 81 SE 2/90

CRUWYS MORCHARD PARK LANE Higher Park Farmhouse

GV II

Farmhouse. Circa mid C17 origins, remodelled and rebuilt at the left end, probably in the C18. Whitewashed rendered cob and stone; slate roof, gabled at ends (formerly thatched); paired axial stacks with rendered shafts in centre, left end stack (shaft dismantled). Plan: The present plan is a single depth main range, 4 rooms wide, the outer rooms heated by end stacks (left end stack no longer in use), the 2 centre rooms heated by back to back stacks. Approximately central entrance into lobby facing the chimney breasts of the back to back stacks. Stairs in both the centre rooms, one a modern replacement. The plan form is unusual for tie region and appears to be the result of 2 phases of building. The 2 right hand rooms are probably the hall and inner room of a circa mid/late C17 3 room and passage plan house with the hall stack backing on to the passage. The lower end was rebuilt and extended in the C18, the centre left room being provided with a stack within the width of the old passage and abutting the hall stack, with an additional room added at the left end of the range. The old C17 hall and inner room appear to have been downgraded to a kitchen and service rooms and the old lower end upgraded and extended into 2 principal living rooms. Various subsequent rear lean-tos and single-storey additions. 2 storeys. Asymmetrical 4 window front with approximately central entrance with C19 front door under porch with sloping roof. 3-light C19 or C20 timber casement windows with glazing bars. Interior C17 carpentry details in 2 right hand rooms : the former hall has a cross beam with scroll stops with a nick; open fireplace with stone rubble jambs, a chamfered scroll-stopped lintel and a C19 bread oven. C20 stair against front wall replacing earlier stair. The right hand room of the range has a roughly chamfered cross beam with a rudimentary stop and a C20 grate. The 2 left hand rooms are plainer with modern grates and 2 circa late C18 4-panel doors with fielded panels. Boxed-in roof trusses and purlins are visible upstairs over the 2 right hand rooms, the principal rafters appear to be straight. A void on the first floor, to the axial chimney stack may be the remains of a curing chamber. An interesting remodelling of a C17 vernacular farmhouse producing an unusual plan form for the region.

Listing NGR: SS8509011215