Smalldon Farmhouse

Farmhouse. It likely dates to the late 15th century, with significant remodelling in the 17th century and alterations in the 19th century. The construction is a mix of cob and stone, with an asbestos slate roof. It has an axial rubble stack and a brick stack at the left end, and is L-shaped. Originally an open hall with a through-passage, a stack was inserted backing onto the through-passage and heating the inner room. Both front and rear through-passage doorways have been blocked, and the main entrance was moved to the left-hand side of the hall. A lower end, initially a shippon (cow shed) and stable with a loft above, was rebuilt as a separate dwelling in the 20th century. A two-storey, right-angled kitchen extension with a gable-end stack was added to the rear left end in the 17th century. The front has a three-window range, with mainly 19th-century fenestration: one four-light casement window and two two-light casement windows, all with eight panes per light. A tiled gabled porch roof covers a six-panel door, with two-light casements on each side and a similar casement at the left end, but with three panes per light. Inside, the through-passage contains a creamery. The hall features scratch-moulded joists and stop-chamfered ceiling beams. An ovolo-moulded door surround leads to a stair turret doorway at the rear of the hall, and the head of the staircase has a chamfered doorframe with elaborately carved stops. The inner room has a built-in 19th-century cupboard to the left of the fireplace. The rear kitchen in the extension has a scroll-stopped, chamfered fireplace lintel and ceiling beam with a wide chamfer and large keel stops. A chamfered door surround, partially cased in, separates the hall and kitchen wing. The chamber above the hall has had its ceiling removed, revealing a large raised cruck truss with two tiers of threaded purlins and a ridge purlin. Large mortices indicate a removed collar. Most rafters are present, with heavy smoke blackening extending from the lower gable end wall of the through-passage to the hall/inner room cob partition, rising to the roof apex. A roughly pegged truss over the inner room appears to be a late 18th or 19th-century replacement, with purlins resting on the backs of the principals. There are two 17th-century raised cruck trusses with slightly cranked, lap-jointed collars, two tiers of threaded purlins, and a ridge purlin.