Town Farmhouse

SX 86 NE ABBOTSKERSWELL MAIN STREET Abbotskerswell 3/22 Town Farmhouse - 23.8.55 GV II Farmhouse, now house, formerly 2 cottages. C16 with probably C18 rear wing, C20 extension. Rendered rubble walls exposed at side. Hipped thatched roof. Large slightly projecting rendered rubble rear lateral stack, similar stack at left gable end, brick stack to right hand gable end. Originally 3 room and through-passage plan lower end to the right, with screens passage and rear lateral fireplace to hall. Gable end fireplace to lower room. Inner room possibly unheated originally. Unheated rear wing added behind inner room probably in C18. Was apparently coverted into 3 cottages in C19, then became 2, at present under 1 ownership but one end is self-contained. Passage has been removed. Probably C20 outshut at rear of hall. 2 storeys. Asymmetrical 5 window front of C20 2-light casements with glazing bars. 2 C20 glazed doors, one towards left end and one to right of centre to former passage under rustic thatch porch. At rear is wing to right and outshut to its left. Interior: Plain wooden lintel to lower end fireplace, probably C18. C16 plank and muntin screen survives between lower room and former passage, partially concealed. It has chamfered head beam and muntins with mason's mitres and diagonal cut stops. Doorway is chamfered with depressed 4-centred head. Hall fireplace has chamfered wood lintel partially filled in underneath obscuring stops. Chamfered cross beam with hollow step stops, a few similarly decorated joists survive. Roof space not inspected but according to owner contains rough straight principals with lapped and pegged collars, probably C18/C19. This house occupies a prominent position in the village centre to which its traditional facade makes an important contribution; the surviving early features inside suggest it was built as a good quality farmhouse.

Listing NGR: SX8570968788