House Adjoining Gappah Farmhouse At The South West

House adjoining Gappah Farmhouse at the south west, Gappah Lane, Kingsteignton

This house was disused at the time of survey in 1986. It is an early 16th-century building that was remodelled in the 17th century, with a later addition probably dating to the 18th century.

The structure is rendered cob with a tiled roof, gabled at the ends (formerly thatched). The left end has a stack with red sandstone ashlar shaft, and there is a lateral stack to the front right wing.

The building evolved from a late medieval open hall house, probably originally of three rooms with the hall positioned to the left. During the 17th century, the right-hand inner room was floored, creating a jettied upper storey that projected into the hall. This left an open hall to the left and a storeyed block to the right. Later in the 17th century, the hall itself was floored with high-status carpentry detail, and an axial stack was added at the left end, backing on to the passage. The passage and lower end no longer survive, as a 19th-century farmbuilding now adjoins the hall at its left end.

A one-room plan addition was added to the inner room at an unknown date, with purlins projecting through the right end wall. This room was later reduced to a single-storey lean-to. A subsequent one-room plan addition was then built in front of this lean-to, forming a front right wing at right angles to the main range, with a lateral stack on the right-hand wall. This addition was originally two storeys, but the floor has since disappeared. The room was in single-storey use before the building was vacated around 1978.

The building presents as a two-storey main range with a single-storey wing. The front elevation has a 1+1 window arrangement. The main range has a three-plank front door to the former inner room, which now functions as a cross passage at the extreme right, with a sloping canopy carried on a timber bracket. Above this is a two-light first-floor window with vertical glazing bars, and a two-light ground-floor sliding sash with lapped glass. The right wing has one first-floor and one ground-floor three-light window with lapped glass.

The interior contains impressive and unusual carpentry details. The hall has two moulded stopped cross beams, the moulding consisting of a hollow flanked by fillets. Between the inner room partition and the right-hand cross beam, the joists have similar mouldings and stops; the other joists are chamfered and stopped. The inner room partition is faced with late 17th-century panelling, possibly reused. The joists of the lower end project as a deep jetty and are rounded. A 19th-century brick-lined fireplace, possibly concealing earlier features, is present. There is a good 17th-century or earlier chamfered stopped doorway between the hall and inner room. The inner room is very narrow and contains a 19th-century stair with stick balusters.

The roofspace could not be accessed at the time of survey, but the trusses are clearly crucks, probably jointed, and a smoke-blackened rafter is visible behind the plasterwork. The single-storey right-hand room is plastered and papered up to the roof trusses with a cove in the left-hand wall.

This is an evolved house of medieval origins with considerable survival of high-quality carpentry. The best moulded joists are reserved for the higher end of the hall, indicating the higher status of that end of the room.