Sampson'S Farm Restauarant

Sampson's Farm Restaurant, Kingsteignton

A farmhouse now in use as a house and restaurant. The building dates from the early 16th century and was remodelled in the 17th century, with a rear left wing added in the 18th or 19th century. The exterior is whitewashed and rendered, probably cob construction, with a thatched roof gabled at the right end and half-hipped at the left end, with a gable at the end of the wing. The roof features a front lateral stack with set-offs, a right end stack, and an end stack to the wing. The building has been substantially renovated and repaired following a fire in the 1970s.

The structure originated as a late medieval open hall house. The inner room to the left was floored in the first phase and jettied into the hall. When the hall was subsequently floored, a front lateral stack was added and a projecting stair turret constructed on the rear wall. The lower end shows similar carpentry details to the hall, suggesting both were floored at the same time, though most roof timbers were lost in a late 20th-century fire. The 17th-century plan survives largely intact, comprising three rooms and a through passage. The lower end room to the right functioned as a kitchen despite its high-quality carpentry. A kitchen wing was added to the rear left in the 18th or 19th century at right angles to the inner room, upgrading the lower end to a parlour. An axial rear corridor has since been created between the right end and inner room, reducing the depth of both the hall and lower end.

The building stands two storeys. The front elevation is asymmetrical with three windows. Eyebrow thatch eaves cover three first floor dormers with 3-light casements of 3 panes per light. A 20th-century plank and cover strip door leads to the passage to the right of centre. Four ground floor casements of varying widths—two, three and four-light with 3 panes per light—are present. A deeply recessed small window at the extreme right opens into what may be a curing chamber adjacent to the lower end stack.

The rear elevation features a deeply recessed chamfered 16th-century shouldered doorframe to the passage with the right hand jamb reset, and a 3-plank door with strap hinges. To the left of the door is a small 2-light 17th-century mullioned window with rounded chamfered heads to each light. The stair projection has a rounded corner and a 17th-century 2-light mullioned stair window with deeply chamfered mullions.

The ground floor interior is very complete. The lower end room contains an ovolo-moulded stopped cross beam, a plank and muntin screen, and an open fireplace with a chamfered scroll-stopped lintel and stone rubble jambs. The fireplace includes a bread oven and two low openings on either side, possibly originally associated with smoking chambers. The hall has an ovolo-moulded stopped lintel to its fireplace and plank and muntin screens to both the passage and the inner room. The room over the inner room is jettied into the hall with rounded ends to the joists, which oversail a plank and muntin screen of unusually wide planks and muntins. The inner room has not been fully inspected but is likely to contain features of interest. The rear wing preserves the remains of an open fireplace with a bread oven. Most roof timbers were replaced after the fire, though one side-pegged jointed cruck survives. This is a fine evolved house of medieval origins with numerous surviving features of interest.