Gambuston Farmhouse, Including Range Of Farmbuildings Attached At West End Granary Attached At East End

Gambuston Farmhouse with Attached Farm Buildings

This is a farmhouse of late medieval origin, remodelled in the 17th century and enlarged in the 18th century, with 19th-century alterations. It forms part of a continuous range of farm buildings extending along the site, with stables and probably a granary dating to the 18th century, a root house from the mid-19th century, and shippons from the late 19th century.

The farmhouse is constructed of stone rubble with dressed stone brought to courses at the lower (right) end, and cob elsewhere (unrendered except at the left end to upper storey). The adjoining stables are of stone rubble and cob; the root barn and shippons are principally stone rubble with brick dressings; the granary combines stone rubble, cob and slight timber framing with stone rubble infill. The farmhouse has a thatched roof with a gable end to the right, continuing over the stables to the left with a plain ridge. There is a tall rendered front lateral hall stack with offsets and an unrendered stone rubble stack at the right gable end with a tapered cap and a brick stack set forward of the ridge towards the left end. The root barn and shippons have slate roofs with gable ends, while the granary has a corrugated iron roof with gable ends.

The farmhouse follows a three-room and cross-passage plan with an additional room at the left end, formerly a poultry house, now incorporated into the dwelling. A shallow dairy and stair outshut extend to the rear. The farm buildings to the left form an impressive continuous range, comprising lofted stables adjoining the farmhouse, a root house beyond, and shippons at the far end. The granary adjoins at right angles and projects forward of the farmhouse at the right end.

The entire range demonstrates considerable multi-phase development. The farmhouse is of late medieval origin, evidenced by reused smoke-blackened purlins and rafters in the main structure and stable roof. Two raised cruck trusses over the lower end may be original and are clean; they may suggest this end was ceiled from the beginning. The deep ceiling beam at the lower end of the hall, with differing ceiling heights on each side, suggests a possible jettied arrangement. This is supported by the fact that the two chambers created over the lower end and passage have no connecting door with the chamber over the hall, and the original gabled stair turret serves only the lower end with access to the rear of the hall. When the hall was ceiled, probably in the 17th century, the stair turret was enlarged to incorporate a second flight of stairs to service the hall and inner room chambers. The lower end, to judge by the good quality masonry confined to this end, may always have served as a parlour. In the 19th century it was partitioned towards the upper end to create a narrow storage room parallel with the cross-passage. The inner room with its shallow rear dairy may always have functioned as a service end; the fireplace across the front left-hand angle appears to be a later, possibly 18th-century insertion. The inner room has separate external access. The additional room, formerly used as a poultry house with a loft over, was converted in the mid-20th century to form part of the dwelling. The entire ground floor was considerably modernised in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, since when it has remained very unspoilt.

The farmhouse is two storeys with a five-window range. All early 20th-century windows are three-light casements with three panes per light. The ground floor lower end has a 19th-century twelve-paned tripartite sash with sliding sidelight sashes. A six-panelled door serves the cross-passage, with the upper three panels glazed. All openings to the right of the stack have brick quoins. A mid-20th-century three-light hall window and three-light casement with three panes per light are to the left of a plank door serving the inner room. The former outbuilding at the left end has a two-light casement to the left of a plank door with four pigeon holes above to the upper storey. The lofted granary at the right end has external stone steps leading to a plank door at the front gable end; the left side is jettied over a ground floor storage room with a plank door. The stables adjoining to the left of the farmhouse have a virtually symmetrical arrangement of a loft door above a plank door flanked by window openings. The root house to the left has stone piers towards the right end flanking a wide doorway with a cambered stone lintel and a pitching door to the rear. The shippons at the left end have two loft doors above two plank stable doors, that to the right flanked by window openings and that to the left with a window opening to its right only. All openings to the shippons have cambered brick lintels and quoins.

The interior preserves principally 19th-century joinery intact to the ground floor. The inner room has a roughly chamfered axial ceiling beam and a 19th-century fireplace with brick jambs. The hall has a cross ceiling beam and probably a deep jetty beam, both plastered over, with a 19th-century integral bench at the upper end and a 20th-century grate to what is probably an original concealed fireplace. Earlier partitions may also be concealed at each end of the hall. An integral 18th-century corner cupboard is located in the front left-hand corner of the lower end, with a raised and fielded panelled door. A classical 19th-century wood chimneypiece with an eared surround is present. A good 17th-century double doorway at the head of the rear right-hand staircase has chamfered scroll-stopped surrounds and original doors with scratchmoulded rails and stiles forming six panels. A probably reused 17th-century ledged plank door serves the head of the left-hand staircase, with cover strips forming three panels.

The roof comprises two late 16th-century raised cruck trusses over the lower end with cambered collars and two tiers of threaded purlins and a ridge purlin. The third truss over the hall has a typical 17th-century dovetail-style collar. The remainder of the roof structure was probably replaced in the 18th century with rough pegged trusses and waney rafters, but incorporates some smoke-blackened timbers.