Cross Farmhouse

Cross Farmhouse is a substantial farmhouse with medieval origins, located in Bishop's Nympton. The building underwent major development over several centuries, with significant remodelling in the 17th century and further alterations in the 18th and 19th centuries.

The house is constructed of plastered cob and stone rubble, with a thatched roof featuring a plain ridge gabled at the ends. It comprises a two-storey structure arranged in an L-plan, consisting of a south-facing main range with a north-east wing set at right angles. The roof retains five sooted late medieval trusses with short curved feet, mortised collars and trenched purlins, in the Alcock Type 'E' style, together with medieval rafters, battens and rye thatch.

The building's plan evolved from an open hall house. The centre of the main range originally contained an open hall, with a lower end to the west and an inner room at the higher end. The inner room was floored in the late 16th century, projecting into the hall. In the 17th century (probably 1624, as indicated by a datestone), major alterations transformed the interior. A north porch to the former passage is dated 1624 with the initials HB carved in the gable. The flooring of the hall, addition of the hall stack and adjoining hall bay, and flooring of the lower end room with its associated stack date to this period. The passage was altered to accommodate a stair rising against the front wall with access from the lower end. An 18th-century pound house was added at the lower end, and the north-east wing, comprising a parlour and wine and cider store, is likely contemporary with this addition. A wide straight stair was introduced into the old inner room in the 19th century, though it may be earlier. The former inner room has been subdivided into a dairy and entrance lobby, with a probably 19th-century south porch.

The north elevation is asymmetrical with five windows, facing the yard. The porch to the former passage sits right of centre, with a cranked chamfered timber lintel visible where the outer doorway was converted to a window. To its left are the projecting lateral hall stack and hall bay, the latter having a large blocked window converted to a smaller 19th-century opening. A plank door leads to the dairy, with a 2-light 20th-century window nearby. To the right of the 17th-century porch is a 20th-century lean-to with a door into the lower end kitchen, and doors serving the pound house at the right end. First-floor windows include 1- and 2-light 19th-century small-pane casements. The inner return of the north-east wing has a 20th-century flat-roofed porch with a glazed door and 2-light casement to the ground floor. External stone steps against the north end wall of the wing lead to a blocked loft door, converted to a window. The south elevation, facing the road, has a probably 19th-century gabled porch right of centre and a 20th-century 2-leaf glazed door to the left. Casement windows, mostly 2- and 3-light 19th-century small-pane, occupy the elevation. The east elevation of the wing has ground-floor windows only, comprising four 2- and 3-light 19th and 20th-century casements. The pound house gable end displays two windows with 19th-century brick arches. The ground floor of the pound house was originally open-fronted, with three stone pillars surviving internally.

Interior features of high quality survive in good condition, with others likely concealed behind wall plaster. The 17th-century hall contains a fine plank and muntin screen at the higher end, retaining the original doorframe into the inner room. Well-finished joist ends, chamfered and stopped, support the jetty over the screen, which retains a shaped 16th or 17th-century bench end. The bench has been dressed-off, but bracket remains are visible and the bench survives intact in the hall bay. Four plastered-over cross beams are chamfered and probably stopped. An 18th-century cupboard on the south wall retains original hinges. The fireplace is 20th-century, though an earlier lintel exists behind the wall plaster. The lower end room features a massive fireplace, partly blocked, and a grand 17th-century ovolo-moulded doorframe with decayed stops to the former passage, surprisingly ornate for its location. The north porch, converted to a bathroom, retains the chamfered timber frame of the inner doorway with a depressed head. The parlour at the east end of the main range has a 20th-century fireplace and plastered-over cross beam. On the first floor, a 19th-century window with margin panes and coloured glass lights the east end stair, and two richly carved 17th-century doors, presumably re-sited, survive on the first floor of the north-east wing.

The building is documented in detail in Charles Hulland's study 'Devonshire Farmhouse, V', published in Transactions of the Devonshire Association (1980), volume 112, pages 165-168.