Sheepwash Farmhouse And Outbuilding Adjoining At West End

Sheepwash Farmhouse and Outbuilding

A farmhouse and adjoining outbuilding, part of the Bishop's Nympton estate. The building dates from the late 16th and early 17th century, with remodelling in the 19th century and possibly at other periods.

The structure comprises stone rubble with roughcast rendering on most of the rear (north) elevation and cob on stone rubble footings to the front (south) elevation of the two western blocks. It has an asbestos slate roof, gabled at the ends. A stack at the right end has a probably 17th-century stone shaft with drip ledges; a rear left lateral stack with a brick shaft is now enclosed by an outshut.

The plan shows a single-depth, south-facing range of at least three different periods of construction, each with separate rooflines. The current arrangement comprises three rooms in width with a cross passage to the right of centre and an outbuilding at the left end. The original late 16th and early 17th-century arrangement appears to have consisted of a lower end parlour or kitchen heated by the end stack, a hall heated by the rear lateral stack, and an unheated inner room. Fragments of decorated plasterwork indicate a high-quality first-floor chamber over the lower end and decorated plasterwork also existed in the room over the inner room. The hall passage and lower end have been raised and re-fronted in stone, probably in the 19th century. The lower end was reduced in size with a narrow unheated room created parallel to the passage, possibly also in the 19th century.

The exterior shows two storeys with an asymmetrical five-window south front, plus three windows to the outbuilding at the left end. The stone block at the right end has a gabled porch to the cross passage with benches with oak seats and a good 17th-century inner stud and plank front door in a chamfered frame. The first floor contains four 19th-century four-pane sashes, two similar sashes to the left of the porch, and one to the right. To the left of the stone block, a lower-roofed block has one first-floor and one ground-floor three-light small-pane casement and four bee boles. The outbuilding adjoining at the left has three ground-floor casements and two bee boles. The rear elevation has 20th-century casement windows. The stack gables to the rear below the chimney shaft and has a small rectangular projection adjacent to it which appears to be a bread oven but is said to have contained a kitchen range. The outbuilding to the right has a large doorway with a 19th-century segmental brick arch and a smaller doorway into a lean-to adjoining at the right end.

Interior features include a hall with a good set of chamfered crossbeams supported on timber corbels on the south side and a 20th-century hall fireplace probably concealing earlier jambs, with an earlier lintel said to be fire-damaged. The inner room has a rough crossbeam. The lower end room has a chamfered axial beam and 20th-century fireplace, possibly concealing an earlier lintel and jambs. A good 17th-century plank and stud door with strap hinges gives access to a store room created out of the width of the lower end room; this is probably the original lower end door. A curious ground-floor feature is a cupboard within the width of the original lower end room but now outside it and adjacent to the south wall. The cupboard is heavily sooted inside and appears to have been a curing chamber, though it is not associated with an existing stack.

In the roofspace, remains of decorated plasterwork survive on the cross wall above the lower end partition of the passage on the east side, including a plaster frieze and motifs including a stylized lion rampant and the remains of a cornice. The room over the inner room formerly retained plaster decoration with scattered motifs on the walls. The roof timbers have been considerably renewed.

A small detached building southeast of the house was used as a detached kitchen as recently as the 1940s. This building is very altered and difficult to date, but it is possible that there was no kitchen in the main range until the mid-20th century.