Little Landslide Farmhouse

Little Landslide Farmhouse

This is a farmhouse dating from the early-to-mid 16th century, with major improvements made in the late 16th and 17th centuries, and refurbishment in the late 19th century. It stands on a gentle hillslope, constructed of plastered cob on stone rubble footings, with stone rubble chimneys topped with 19th and 20th century brick. The roof is now interlocking concrete tile, though it was originally thatch.

The house is two storeys with a gable-ended roof. The front elevation is irregular with four windows of late 19th and 20th century replacement casements with glazing bars. Two doorways survive: the original passage entrance to the left of centre contains a late 19th century part-glazed four-panel door, while a secondary passage doorway to the right has a superior contemporary six-panel door. Both now have 20th century porches.

Internally, the original layout survives well-preserved beneath late 19th century joinery. The house was originally planned as a four-room-and-through-passage arrangement. The service end at the south-west contains a kitchen with a very large stone rubble fireplace and an oak lintel with soffit chamfering and step stops. Projecting from the rear corner is a former walk-in curing chamber, now converted to a cupboard, with an associated gable-end stack. Between the kitchen and the original through passage lies a small unheated dairy which houses the well. The rear of the passage is now blocked by a closet outshot. Beyond the passage stands the hall, heated by what appears to have been an open hearth fire in the 16th century, later with a fireplace added in the mid or late 16th century with an oak lintel matching contemporary beam detailing. The parlour occupies the right end, with a projecting gable-end stack. All exposed structural beams are 16th and 17th century. The ceiling beams generally feature deep soffit chamfers with step stops, except the hall crossbeam, which is soffit-chamfered with scroll stops. Evidence of the original plank-and-muntin screen survives at the lower side of the original passage. A 19th century second passage was inserted through the parlour alongside the hall, with a new stair inserted in a turret projecting to the rear, and a wash house outshot was added to the rear of the kitchen.

The house appears to have begun as some form of open hall house, progressively floored over from the mid 16th to mid 17th centuries, with the hall being the last section to be floored in the mid 17th century. The parlour and kitchen ends were probably rebuilt and enlarged in the early or mid 17th century. The roof structure is carried on a series of side-pegged jointed cruck trusses; although the roofspace is inaccessible, the farmer reports that at least the hall section contains timbers smoke-blackened from the 16th century open hearth fire.