Abbot'S Park And Short Section Of Garden Wall Adjoining To South

Abbot's Park and Short Section of Garden Wall Adjoining to South

Farmhouse, now house. Early to mid-17th century, probably incorporating late-Medieval fabric. Late 19th-century alterations and late 20th-century additions. Rendered, probably over stone rubble or cob. Corrugated-asbestos roof, gable-ended to the left and hipped to the right. Rubble square axial stack with weatherings and cap. Cob wall with tiled coping.

The building has a 17th-century 2-room baffle-entry plan, facing south, probably a remodelling of a late-Medieval 3-room house with cross or through passage. Two rooms to the left flank the stack with a central baffle entrance. A putative cross passage to the right of the right-hand room leads to a putative service room (now kitchen) beyond. In the 17th century, the lower room and former cross passage (entrance blocked) were retained as service rooms, while the former hall and inner room to the left were altered by insertion of the axial stack with baffle entrance and staircase to rear. A continuous lean-to outshut at the rear is probably a 17th-century addition. An axial passage in the lean-to and a small room behind the left-hand ground-floor room contain a probably early 17th-century winder staircase, possibly pre-dating the principal 17th-century remodelling. The service end appears to have been altered and reduced to a lean-to, possibly in the late 19th or early 20th century. A probably 18th-century 1-storey lean-to at the front to the right incorporates what might have been a kennel below. A late 20th-century glazed porch is at the right-hand door, and a 20th-century stone porch is at the front door. Further late 20th-century alterations include a 1-room plan addition to the left and conversion of part of the lean-to to the rear of the kitchen to a garage. The building is two storeys with 1-storey lean-to.

The asymmetrical 3-window front features late 19th-century 2-and 3-light wooden casements. A ground-floor 1-light wooden casement is to the right. A 19th-century boarded door between the first and second windows from the left has a pegged chamfered wooden frame and a 20th-century low-pitched stone porch. A 20th-century half-glazed door is at the right-hand end; a 20th-century glazed lean-to porch contains a probably 17th-century ribbed and nail-studded boarded door with wrought-iron strap hinges (the door probably reused from the front doorway). A section of garden wall adjoining at right angles to the left of the porch features a boarded door. A 1-storey lean-to addition to the right has a small ground-floor window on the right-hand return front and a probable former kennel below with stone reveals to the opening and wooden lintel. A 20th-century addition to the left-hand end of the house has a flat-topped semi-dormer and 4-light French casements. A 17th-century 3-light leaded chamfered mullioned oak window in the lean-to to the rear of the stack has deeply-splayed oak reveals.

The interior contains largely early to mid-17th-century fixtures and fittings. Ground-floor rooms to the left and right of the stack have deep chamfered cross beams and half beams with scroll stops. A large open stone fireplace in the ground-floor room to the left of the stack has dressed stone jambs and a chamfered wooden lintel with scroll stops. An 18th-century cupboard in the wall to the right of the front window in the left-hand room has two raised and fielded panels. An open stone fireplace in the room to the right of the stack has dressed stone reveals, a plain wooden lintel and bread oven. 17th-century segmental-headed boarded doors with beaded frames appear in the entrance lobby (two doors) and in the rear wall of each ground-floor room to the left and right of the stack. The former cross passage to the right contains a late 19th-century pump. An old boarded door connects the ground-floor room to the right of the stack and the former cross passage. A small room in the lean-to to the rear of the left-hand ground-floor room features a circa 1600 doorway with a carpenter's-mitred narrow-chamfered frame and an old oak winder stair in the corner. Three early to mid-17th-century doorways with mason's-mitred joints and wide chamfers with curved runout stops appear: one to the rear ground-floor corridor, one to the left-hand bedroom with a 17th-century panelled door, and one to a cupboard by the stack in the left-hand bedroom (minus door). An old boarded door serves the bedroom to the right of the stack. The roof appears to be 17th century, with A-frame trusses.