Halswell Farmhouse

Halswell Farmhouse is a farmhouse of considerable architectural and historical interest, probably dating from the early 16th century with late 16th and 17th century remodellings and an 18th century extension. It is constructed of stone rubble and cob, unrendered to the rear, with a thatch roof featuring gable ends and a plain ridge. The front right-hand wing has a corrugated iron roof with a hipped end. The building is heated by a tall front lateral stone rubble hall stack, a rear lateral stone rubble stack at the lower end, and a brick stack to the rebuilt left gable end.

The plan consists of a 3-room and through-passage arrangement with a front wing to the right-hand (lower) end, now used for farm storage but formerly part of the dwelling. The development of the building reveals an interesting evolution: the hall and lower end were originally open to the roof. The lower end was ceiled first, with a deep jetty into the hall. The clay daub and stud partition above the jetty beam is heavily smoke-blackened on the hall side and shows a change in floor levels, indicating the hall was ceiled last, probably in the early 17th century. A small leanto dairy was added at the hall's rear at this time. A solid cob wall partition rises to the apex of the roof between the hall and inner room. The cruck truss over the inner room, set close to the partition, suggests the inner room would certainly have been added by the early 17th century. Probably in the 18th century, the front wing was added. A fireplace across the rear right-hand angle with bread oven and a blocked doorway through to the lower end suggest it may have formed a kitchen to the original range when it was divided into 2 dwellings, with the hall/through passage screen forming the dividing partition. A new doorway was inserted to the left of the original through-passage doorway, giving access into a new passage taken out of the lower end of the hall with a dog-leg staircase at the rear. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the front wing was extended forwards by a 2-storey, single room plan addition, also with a fireplace across the rear right-hand angle. The absence of connecting doorways through to the rest of the wing strongly suggests this was occupied as a separate cottage, meaning that at this period Halswell Farmhouse may have been occupied by three family units.

The building is 2 storeys and 3 windows wide. The fenestration is 20th century, comprising 2-light casements. A 2-storey hall window bay is built out in line with the lateral stack. The through-passage has a late 16th or early 17th century 4-centred arched timber doorway with a chamfered surround. The wing features a 2-light casement with 2 panes per light on each side of an old plank door, and a 2-light window over the right-hand ground floor window, one light retaining its square-leaded panes. An old plank door serves the end cottage.

The interior is of considerable interest. The lower end and hall fireplaces probably survive behind 20th century grates. A roughly chamfered beam is present in the lower end. A small square 18th century cupboard built into the front wall of the lower end features a marquetry inlay pattern. A plank and muntin screen between the hall and through-passage is largely concealed by inbuilt cupboards and lath and plaster but appears to be intact, probably originally with doorways at each end. The left-hand doorway is replaced by a raised and fielded panelled cupboard door with butterfly hinges; the rear doorway is now concealed by the staircase. A new doorway has been formed in the centre of the screen by removing two of the muntins. The muntins are chamfered and stopped near the base. Part of a pulley system for hanging pigs survives in the through-passage. The exposed floor below the inserted staircase indicates the hall was originally cobbled. The deep jetty beam in the hall apparently rests at front on a concealed hall fireplace lintel and is chamfered but apparently unstopped at each end. A 17th century ovolo-moulded doorframe opens to the rear upper end wall of the hall through to the dairy; the left-hand durn is concealed, and the right-hand durn features an ornate rams horns stop. The inner room has a higher ceiling with a single axial ceiling beam with pyramid stops at the upper end. A large recess in the rear wall at the head of the inserted stairs at the lower end of the hall, with a wide chamfered lintel, indicates the probable position of the original staircase, which served the lower end before the hall was floored over.

The roof structure is entirely intact. Four raised cruck trusses are present, with the exposed foot of the hall truss indicating they rest on short timber wall plates. The truss over the inner room, with feet plastered in, is not accessible. The three remaining trusses—one over the hall and two over the lower end—have two tiers of threaded purlins and ridge purlin, morticed and tenoned cranked collars with long protruding pegs. None of the three trusses are closed; the jetty partition rises to the apex of the roof approximately a metre to the right of the hall truss. The studs and clay daub are entirely intact, heavily smoke-blackened on the hall side, as is the hall/inner room solid cob partition. The hall roof structure, including all rafters, battens and the underside of the thatch, is heavily encrusted in soot, with all roof members entirely intact below the closed partition becoming progressively cleaner towards the lower gable end wall. The front wing has roughly pegged 18th century trusses with straight principals. Fireplaces are intact to both units; that to the earlier range includes a bread oven.

Halswell Farmhouse is of considerable interest as a good example of a medieval open hall house, and particularly for its retention of many later features which clearly illustrate its development, including its subdivision and extension by the 19th century into apparently three family units.