Great Abbotts Farmhouse

Great Abbotts Farmhouse

A farmhouse probably dating to around 1500, remodelled in the mid-17th century, with further alterations around 1700 and an outshut probably added in the 18th century. The building was substantially remodelled and partly rebuilt in the mid to late 19th century, and the roof was altered in the mid-20th century.

The structure is built of coursed stone rubble with some red-brick dressings to the left-hand end and to the outshut, and is rendered to the front. Some old cob survives in the rear and in the right-hand gable end. The roof is gable-ended with corrugated asbestos covering. A square stone ridge stack with weatherings is present.

Plan and Development

The building follows a 17th-century three-room baffle-entry plan, facing south with the ground falling to the right. An axial stack contains back-to-back fireplaces serving the larger room to the left (probably the former kitchen) and the present kitchen to the lower level right (probably the former parlour). A rectangular stair projection stands at the rear of the stack. A probably 18th or 19th-century outshut extends to the rear. An unheated room on the lower level to the right of the kitchen was probably partially rebuilt in the mid to late 19th century. The present kitchen retains high-quality 18th-century wall cupboards, indicating its status as a parlour until at least the early 18th century. A staircase was inserted in the kitchen, possibly in the 18th century. At the time of survey in July 1987, the right-hand ground-floor room was in use as a store. The present layout may reflect the extent of the late-medieval house, though its plan has been extensively altered; the right-hand end room may be a rebuilding of a former service room, and the 17th-century parlour and kitchen are possibly rebuildings of the hall and inner room respectively.

Exterior

The building is two storeys high with an asymmetrical south front. The first floor has five 19th-century wooden casements with two and three lights, mostly with small panes. Two ground-floor late 19th-century three-light wooden casements appear to the left, with a 19th-century fixed six-pane window to the right. Two boarded doors, one of 19th or 20th-century date between the first and second windows from the left, and another to the left of the right-hand window at the lower end, complete the fenestration.

Interior

A lobby contains an old nail-studded boarded door to the left-hand room and an 18th or 19th-century four-panelled door to the right-hand room. The left-hand room features a 17th-century chamfered cross beam with scroll stops and a blocked fireplace with a late 19th-century mantelshelf comprising a central key block and scrolled brackets supporting the shelf. The kitchen to the right of the stack has a chamfered spine beam with broach stops and a blocked fireplace. Two early 18th-century wall cupboards with raised and fielded panels and beaded edges are present; the rear one has two panels to each door, and the right-hand wall cupboard has two panels to each upper door and single panels to the lower doors. A window seat is also present. A probably 18th-century door to the staircase features H-L hinges. An old boarded door between kitchen and right-hand room retains old strap hinges. The right-hand end room contains a 17th-century chamfered spine beam.

A 17th-century oak winder stair in the rectangular projection at the rear of the stack is accompanied by a late 17th or early 18th-century balustrade to the landing, consisting of splat balusters (with the centre one missing at the time of survey), a square newel post, and a beaded handrail. Old wide floorboards cover the first floor, and old boarded doors with strap hinges serve the first-floor rooms; the door to the left-hand room retains nail studding.

Roof Structure

Remains of probably circa 1500 roof construction survive, consisting of a pair of probably cruck trusses flanking the stack. The rear blade of the left-hand truss has been removed, probably when the staircase was added. The left-hand truss is truncated at first-floor ceiling level, and the right-hand truss, which shows evidence of chamfering to its front blade, is obscured by the stack in the roofspace. Only the left-hand part of the roofspace was inspected; a 17th-century open truss with straight principals and trenches for former purlins was observed there. The remainder of the roof is predominantly 20th-century. Cased purlins are visible in the first-floor rooms, and evidence of a half-hip appears in the left-hand end of the roof. No smoke blackening was present in the part of the roof which was inspected.