South Stoodleigh Farmhouse Including Attached Outbuildings To Rear

EAST AND WEST BUCKLAND SS 63 SC 3/67 - South Stoodleigh Farmhouse 20.2.67 including attached outbuildings to rear GV II* Farmhouse, including outbuildings to rear. Possibly C17 core, entirely remodelled 1731. Outbuildings C19. Dressed stone facade, otherwise stone rubble. Hipped slate roof with stacks to central valley. Continuous cavetto moulded stone cornice. Virtually square double depth plan with 2 principal heated rooms of unequal size to front with direct entry to larger right-hand room. Opposing rear door in this room gives access to rear service rooms, the kitchen to left and dairy to right, divided by the principal staircase which enters the front right hand room between the rear access doorway and the fireplace. Parallel to the principal staircase and to its right, a secondary staircase runs up from back to front. The peculiarity of the plan suggests a possibly remodelled C17 core of a single depth plan with principal rooms each side of a central passage. L-shaped outbuildings to rear forming 3-sided rear courtyard. 2 storeys. 5 bays. Symmetrical. All 12-paned horned sashes in flush timber sash- boxes. Central plank door with rectangular overlight. Interior: C18 joinery, including 6 and 2-panelled doors and panelled shutters, is virtually complete throughout. Right-hand principal room has large moulded plasterwork ceiling oval and moulded cornice. Contemporary flat-arched chimneypiece with central heraldic shield initialled W G (William and Grace Buckingham) and dated B 1731. Room to left has moulded plasterwork ceiling consisting of large quatrefoil with shaped corner panels and moulded dentilled cornice. This ceiling may be slightly earlier, possibly c.1700, again suggesting the 1731 date refers to a remodelling. Enclosed principal dog-leg staircase with low fielded dado panelling on each side, ramped up at the ends of each flight. Secondary staircase also intact with thin turned balusters to the garret flight. 2 parallel roofs of 4 C18 trusses each. Dairy fittings intact. The dairy projects into the L-shaped range of rear outbuildings which have corrugated asbestos roofs. West Buckland School was founded here in 1858 before moving to its present site in 1861, as recorded on the gatepiers to the farmhouse (q.v.). The house is of considerable interest and unusual for the area in retaining so many C18 features.

Listing NGR: SS6571932314