South Ash

South Ash is a farmhouse, now a private dwelling, likely dating to the late 16th or early 17th century, although earlier fabric may be concealed. It is constructed of painted rendered stone rubble and cob, with a thatched roof gabled on the left end and half-hipped on the right. A stone rubble hall stack, located laterally on the front, has a tapered cap heightened in brick, and there is a brick stack at the left end.

The building has an overall T-shaped plan. The front range is of longhouse type, with lofted stables/shippon at the lower right end, beyond a wide through-passage. The passage leads to a hall heated by the front lateral stack, and an inner room is situated at the left end. A dairy and stairhall wing projects to the rear of the hall. The roof space is inaccessible, but appears to have been largely re-roofed, possibly in the 19th century. The rear wing’s roof was extended forward over the hall, creating a front gable and necessitating the considerable heightening of the hall stack. This has accentuated the L-shape of the dwelling.

The rear wall of the hall was removed to create an open connection with the rear wing, which is divided axially to create a dairy on the lower side and a straight-run staircase on the upper side, running from back to front. A rear entrance was created into the inner room, and there was formerly a front doorway that has since been blocked, along with all openings to the inner room on the farm courtyard side.

The exterior is two storeys high. There is a single window to the hall bay on each floor, with late 19th and early 20th century fenestration. The ground floor window is of four lights, with three panes per light. A lean-to slate canopy shelters the through-passage doorway, which has a plank door. The stable/shippon range to the right has a loft plank door above two plank doors with a window opening between.

Internally, much of the 19th-century joinery remains. The stables/shippon range retains stall fittings, a cobbled floor, and mangers. The hall fireplace has a chamfered lintel and a bread oven. Hall ceiling beams were replaced when the rear wall was removed and a single axial beam inserted. A deep chamfered cross ceiling beam is present in the rear wing. A solid stone rubble partition wall divides the hall from the inner room. The inner room has two chamfered cross ceiling beams and a bressumer at the lower end, along with an integral cupboard. The fireplace has an unchamfered lintel and a bread oven. While the roof space is inaccessible, straight feet of principals with light scantling suggest a major re-roofing in the 19th century. However, abutting the hall/upper room partition is a lower truss with boxed feet of straight principals, suggesting part of the earlier roof structure survives.