Waterbrooks Farmhouse And Garden Walls Adjoining To South

Waterbrooks Farmhouse and Garden Walls Adjoining to South

Farmhouse in North Molton, dating from the mid-17th century with mid to late 19th-century additions and minor mid-20th-century alterations.

The main structure is rendered cob built on a coursed stone rubble plinth, with roughly dressed stone visible in the plinth of the entrance bay. Uncoursed stone rubble forms the alterations and additions. The roof is gable-ended with asbestos-slate covering, though it was formerly thatched. A mid-17th-century dressed stone chimney stack with weatherings and cap stands on the building; further stacks are brick, one of which is rendered.

The original 17th-century plan followed a three-room baffle-entry arrangement facing south, consisting of two rooms flanking an axial stack with a square entrance projection to the front and a square staircase projection to the rear. A small unheated room occupies the left-hand end. In the 19th century, additions were made to the right with an end stack, including an outbuilding projecting at right angles to the front with an integral lateral stack. Lean-to additions were built to each gable end at the same period, and the eaves were probably raised at this time. In the 20th century, the outbuilding was converted into domestic accommodation. Internal alterations at the same period included removal of the partition wall between the ground-floor room to the left of the stack and the small left-hand end room. The house may be a remodelling of a late Medieval building retaining some medieval fabric, though no evidence of this was noted at the time of survey. If earlier, it has been thoroughly remodelled in the 17th century. The building stands at two storeys with a one-storey wing.

The exterior of the 17th-century range to the left shows roughly symmetrical fenestration with four windows to the first floor and three to the ground floor. These are mostly late 17th- or early 18th-century leaded mullioned wooden windows with opening metal casements and wooden lintels, set behind the render and resting on stone pads at each end. The later right-hand end has two windows to each floor, comprising two- and three-light small-paned wooden casements. The former outbuilding projecting to the front at the right-hand end displays mid-20th-century fenestration. The 19th-century lean-to addition to the left gable end features a 20th-century boarded door and small leaded window to the front, while that to the right has a four-panelled door to the side. The rear elevation shows two first-floor leaded wooden casements to the right (west) and a staircase projection with a small leaded window in its right-hand side.

Adjoining to the front are 19th-century uncoursed sandstone rubble garden walls.

The interior reveals significant 17th-century detail. The ground-floor room to the left of the stack contains a chamfered cross beam and wall beams with runout stops. This room has an open fireplace with dressed stone reveals, a bread oven, and a chamfered wooden lintel with runout stops. The ground-floor room to the right of the stack has a cambered chamfered cross beam and wall beams with runout stops. The roof structure is 17th-century, consisting of trusses with straight principals and collars.

An old photograph from probably the early 20th century kept in the house at the time of survey in September 1987 shows the house and outbuilding with a thatched roof, and also depicts a thatched barn that formerly stood in front of the house and is now demolished.

The house was formerly known as Lower Ley Farm.