Bunksland Farmhouse And Attached Outbuildings

Bunksland Farmhouse and Attached Outbuildings

This is a farmhouse of considerable medieval interest, accompanied by a hay barn to the left and a shippon to the right. The farmhouse is probably early 15th century in origin, remodelled probably in the late 16th or early 17th century, with some 19th century alterations. It has remained virtually unaltered since then. The shippon is probably 17th century, while the barn at the left end dates to circa 1880.

The farmhouse and shippon are constructed of rubble and cob, with the farmhouse rendered to the front only. The barn is of unrendered stone rubble with brick dressings. The farmhouse has a corrugated asbestos roof, the shippon is corrugated, and the barn is slated with gable ends. The ridge level decreases from left to right. An axial stone rubble stack with a tapered cap and brick shaft stands at the left gable end of the farmhouse, enclosed by the barn.

Plan and Development

The farmhouse represents a remarkably interesting example of multiphase development. It follows a three-room and cross-passage plan, with the lower end to the right containing an axial stack backing onto the passage. Straight run staircases rise to the rear of the cross-passage and run up the gable wall of the inner room in the rear left-hand corner. A lofted shippon is attached to the right end, with a partially lofted hay barn at the left end.

The farmhouse appears to have originally been a four-bay open hall house. The hall, spanning two bays, features an impressive wind-braced jointed cruck roof. Most unusually, it also possesses a closed truss of crown-post type construction at the upper end. When the hall and inner room were floored, probably in the late 16th century, a solid wall partition was built against the closed truss to carry the inner room ceiling beam. The inserted axial stack similarly created a solid wall partition at the lower end of the hall.

The lower end, to the right of the cross-passage, consists of a small unheated front parlour and rear dairy, with the lofted shippon attached at the right end. The shippon is clearly a late 17th or early 18th century addition, possibly coinciding with the creation of the parlour and dairy from a former byre.

Exterior

The building is two storeys, presented as a four-window range. The fenestration is principally late 19th and early 20th century. A plank door at the left end is enclosed by a small 20th century flat-roofed extension. Above this is a two-light casement of three-light casement, both with two panes per light. Two-light casements appear on each floor—that to the upper storey has six panes per light, while that lighting the hall has seven panes per light. A two-light casement sits above a 19th century plank door to the cross-passage doorway. To the right is an 18th century two-light casement with leaded lights and decorative wrought iron catch, positioned above a two-light casement with three panes per light.

To the rear of the lower end are two small 17th century mullion windows with chamfered surrounds, though the mullions have been replaced. The remainder of the rear of the farmhouse is blind. The lofted shippon at the right end has a loft opening above two doorways. The barn at the left end has a loft door above two plank stable doors, with brick dressings.

Interior

The inner room features a chamfered axial ceiling beam with front and rear half beams and exposed joists. A 19th century straight run staircase rises in the rear left-hand corner. The fireplace is concealed.

The hall has a keel-stopped chamfered cross ceiling beam, with a chamfered bressumer at the upper end and a half beam to the front of the axial stack. There is clear evidence of a ladder arrangement in the soffit close to the front wall. A chamfered fireplace lintel is supported on shaped timber corbels. A brick-lined bread oven sits nearby. Between the stack and the former stair ladder is a late 16th century four-centred arched door surround to the cross-passage, with jambs partially cased in.

The small front parlour to the lower end has a plastered axial ceiling beam with plaster moulding on the rear side only. Eighteenth and 19th century plank doors survive throughout the building. There is no interconnecting doorway between the hall and inner room chambers.

Roof

The roof structure is very fine and unusual, probably 15th century in date. Unfortunately, the roofspace is accessible only over the lower end and passage. A jointed cruck truss over the lower end has a small strengthening piece to the diagonally set ridge. The collar, formerly morticed and tenoned, has been replaced. The ridge, surviving front rafters, and truss are all heavily smoke-blackened.

A similar truss spans the hall with a high cranked morticed and tenoned collar. The closed truss at the upper end of the hall is of a type rarely found in the West Country. As it is partially plastered or papered over, not all details are visible. It consists of a pair of principal rafters, apparently straight and of lighter scantling than the jointed crucks. A low collar is tenoned into the principal rafters, with purlins clasped between the principal rafters and collar. The collar is supported by a central post, apparently rising from ground level—a short section is exposed in the hall below—with curved upward braces from post to collar and apparently continuing to the apex as a king strut supporting the ridge. Mortices for staves in the soffits of the beam and principal rafters show that the truss was originally closed, with infilling presumably removed when the solid wall was built on the inner room side of the truss. This wall encloses the post and framing, visible where exposed in the hall.

A single tier of paired curved windbraces survives on the front side between the two pairs of jointed crucks and between the central jointed cruck and the closed truss. Similar braces formerly existed to the rear but have been removed. A single windbrace to front and rear survives on the inner room side. The braces are morticed into the trusses, with one apparently halved into the backs of the purlins.

Significance

Bunksland Farmhouse is a remarkably unspoilt example of a medieval dwelling clearly of some status. The interior detail and particularly the roof structure are of considerable interest. The closed truss at the upper end of the hall is a rare example of a type which may once have been more common in the south-west, particularly in jointed cruck roofs. Without windbracing, the replacement of the closed truss with a solid wall partition between the hall and inner room would have left little indication of the former arrangement had it existed elsewhere.