Old Bailey Farmhouse

STOKEINTEIGNHEAD STOKEINTEIGNHEAD SX 9070-9170

17/389 Old Bailey Farmhouse

II

GV

Former farmhouse. Late medieval origins, remodelled in the circa early/mid C17. Whitewashed rendered cob and stone rubble; slate roof of 2 different heights, half- hipped at ends; axial stack with rendered shaft, rear lateral stacks to left and right. Plan: 3 room and through passage plan, the hall stack backing on to the passage, lower end to the right; rear wing at right angles to the main range. The core of the house is a late medieval open hall house with sooted roof timbers surviving from the left end as far as the lower end of the hall. Roof not thoroughly inspected at time of survey (1987) but the sooted timbers, below a later roof, do not extend over the right end of the house: they may have been removed or the right end of the house (the inner room) may always have been 2 storeys, there are 2 flights of stairs; one rises from the end of the passage leading to the first floor over the lower end, a second flight rises against the wall of the hall. The character of the carpentry on the ground floor suggests that the house was floored with the stacks added in the early/mid C17. There are some oddities to the plan: the hall is not rectangular but the rear wall is at a slight angle and appears to be a thin partition, suggesting some kind of rebuilding of the rear wall when the wing was added. The lower end fireplace is in the rear corner of the room. A C20 single-storey glazed addition has been added to the front of the inner room. Exterior: 2 storeys. Asymmetrical 4 window front with a C20 timber front door to the through passage to right of centre and a C20 door at the left end into the inner room. Flat-roofed C20 glazed addition on the front at the right. 2 and 3 light C20 casement windows. Interior: Rich in carpentry and joinery. Plank and muntin screen to the lower end of the passage, the muntins moulded on the passage side; short section of plank and muntin screen at the higher side of the passage, plank and muntin screen between passage and inner room. The lower end room (to the right) has a chamfered cross beam and corner stack in the rear left corner. An C18 corner cupboard is built into the front right corner of the room. The hall has a good C17 open fireplace with a chamfered lintel with bar stops and plaster armorial bearings over the lintel with the initials BIC and a date of 1-50, (second numeral unclear). Inner room not inspected at time of survey but said to have exposed carpentry. Roof: The thatched medieval roof over the left end and centre of the range survives below the present roof; the carpentry details of the main truses were not seen at time of survey as access is awkward but sooted thatch survives, laid on rough wattle, and the rafters and diagonally-set ridge are intact.

Listing NGR: SX9158870538