Lower Upcott Farmhouse

SWIMBRIDGE SS 62 NW 11/174 Lower Upcott Farmhouse

II

Farmhouse. Probably early C16, remodelled in C17 with C20 alterations. Painted rendered stone and cob. Slate roof with gable ends. Lateral hall stack to rear with offsets and projecting bread oven and brick stack at left end. Inserted lateral brick stack to rear of lower end. Originally through-passage plan, the front access now blocked and window inserted and hall and through-passage partition removed. Evidence of considerable rebuilding at upper end with the addition of an extra heated room beyond the inner room, but both said at one time to have housed animals. Lower end also extended and once used for animal accommodation. 2 storeys. 7 window range. C20 fenestration, principally 2-light casements, with two 3-light windows to each end of ground floor. 4 paned window inserted to former through-passage doorway. Inserted doorway at upper end with slate lean-to roof. Interior: stop-chamfered beams to hall, the other ceiling beams are roughly hewn. Rear through-passage C17 doorway has ovolo with chamfer moulded surround with large carved worn stops. Single truss over lower end, with slightly curving short feet and straight collar tenoned into mortices to the soffits of the principal rafters, with no sign of smoke-blackening to the truss but some to one of the purlins, possibly reused, suggesting the hall was originally open to the roof. Solid cob partitions rising to the apex of the roof at each end and between the upper end rooms take the place of timber trusses and supported the purlins but majority of the roof structure is C20.

Listing NGR: SS6246526832