North Yarde

SS 72 SE ROSE ASH

6/100 North Yarde -

GV II*

House, probably originally the kitchen range to South Yarde (q.v.). Likely to be late medieval in origin, remodelled in the circa early C17, re-roofed in the C20, C20 lean-to added at right end. Colourwashed, rendered cob and stone; slate roof, half-hipped at left end, gabled at right end; right end stack, modern left end stack. Plan: Parallel to South Yarde across a narrow yard and probably part of a courtyard plan house of which South Yarde is the hall range. North Yarde consists of one large principal room with a massive stack combined with a smoking chamber at the right end and a smaller, originally unheated, service room to the left which may be a later addition. The height of the fireplace lintel suggests that the principal room may originally have been single-storey and open to the roof. The ceiling beams are probably late C17 and the floor may have been inserted at this date to provide an extra chamber. The main house, South Yarde, has no obvious provision for a C17 kitchen and presumably North Yarde continued to serve as the kitchen throughout the C17. The roof structure, replaced in the C20, is known to have been of cruck construction (Hulland). A single-storey rear lean-to is probably a C19 or later addition, the smoking chamber has been broken through to provide a doorway into the C20 right end lean-to. Exterior: Asymmetrical 2 window south front, slightly set back at the left end suggesting a rebuilding or addition. Half-glazed front door to left of centre, buttress to the right, 2- and 3-light C20 timber casements. The rear elevation has a lean-to, 2 small-pane timber casements and one recent C20 window. Interior: The principal ground floor room is dominated by a massive open fireplace with a bread oven and a chamfered lintel that extends the full width of the room, continuing across the smoking chamber to the right where it has been dressed off when the smoking chamber was converted to a doorway, but preserving its chamfer and stop at the right end. The lintel is high and a half-beam supporting the joists is fixed to it, suggesting that the ceiling post-dates the fireplace. The main crossbeam is chamfered with keeled stops and exposed joists. Roof C20 with straight principals, Hulland refers to former cruck trusses. An unusual survival and especially important for its relationship with South Yarde.

Hulland, C. "Devonshire Farmhouses, Part V", Transactions of the Devonshire Association (1980), vol. 112, pp 127-132.

Listing NGR: SS7717721244