Cobley Farmhouse With Forecourt Wall And Gateway

Cobley Farmhouse, located in East Worlington, dates to the early 17th century, with earlier origins and 19th-century window replacements. The farmhouse is constructed with a rubble plinth and cob walls, rendered and colourwashed externally, and has a hipped straw-thatched roof. There are two large rubble gable end stacks, a projecting lateral rubble stack at the rear with a later brick shaft, and an outbuilding projecting at right angles to the lower end, along with an 18th-century ciderhouse at right angles to the rear of the lower end wing. Originally, the building was likely an open hall house, possibly with a smoke bay at the lower end, evidenced by a half beam above and in front of the fireplace.

The plan is E-shaped, with a 3-room-and-through-passage layout. The lower end features a large kitchen fireplace with an axial gable-end stack. The hall has a rear lateral stack, and an unheated inner room. A two-storeyed porch fronts the through-passage. A wing, added at right angles to the inner room, contains dated plasterwork reading "1771," though the wing itself is likely slightly earlier.

The exterior has a symmetrical facade with a 1:2:1:2:1 window arrangement, with the first and last windows in the projecting wings. 19th-century multi-paned 2- and 3-light casements are present. The outer doorway to the porch is flanked by a moulded stone surround with a semi-circular head, while the inner doorway has a moulded door frame. A reused early wooden-mullion window is incorporated into the rear ciderhouse wing.

Inside, the hall features two chamfered lateral ceiling beams with straight cut stops; the lower room has two lateral ceiling beams, a half beam, chamfered with big convex stops. The hall fireplace has an ovolo-moulded wooden bressumer. The wing adjoining the higher end has a fireplace with granite jambs and a wooden bressumer, with a dated plaster set above. A simple 19th-century staircase is located in the passage. The roof is largely later, with trenched purlins probably dating to the 17th century, although a cruck appears over the higher end.

The forecourt is marked by rubble walling with a pantiled capping, and a gateway with large piers.