Ashill Farmhouse

Ashill Farmhouse

A farmhouse of late 15th or early 16th century origins, remodelled around the early 17th century with subsequent phases of rebuilding and addition at the left end. The building is constructed of whitewashed plastered cob on stone rubble footings, with the right end wall built of red sandstone rubble. The roof is thatched, hipped at the left end and gabled at the right end, with two axial stacks and a right end stack.

The present arrangement comprises a three-room and through-passage plan, with a hall stack backing onto the passage and the lower end to the left, plus an additional one-room extension at the left end. A 18th and 19th century rear left lean-to and an early 20th century two-storey rear centre wing have been added. The origins of the house are a late medieval open hall house, with medieval roof structure surviving over the two right-hand rooms and passage. A crosswall stands at the lower end of the passage. The lower end and passage were probably floored before the hall, and the hall stack appears to have been added before the early 17th century flooring, which displays high quality carpentry detail. The right end wall of the inner room has been rebuilt, contemporary with the inner room stack, with details suggesting a possible 18th century date. Evidence of rebuilding is also visible at the lower end, which retains an altered 17th century kitchen fireplace. The rear wall of the hall and the roof to the rear of the ridge have been adjusted to provide an axial first floor passage. Extensive repairs were undertaken in the 1970s and 1980s.

The exterior presents two storeys with an asymmetrical five-window front and a 20th century gabled porch to the left of centre. The windows include 20th century French windows on the ground floor, a small ovolo-moulded timber window frame to the right of the porch (re-sited and originally part of a larger window), an early 19th century 12-pane sash to the right, two 19th or 20th century two-light casements with glazing bars to the first floor left, and three 12-pane sashes to the first floor right.

The interior contains a fine hall with an open fireplace featuring a decayed timber lintel, a bread oven, and a well-built relieving arch partly concealed by early 17th century ceiling beams. These beams are ovolo-moulded with large decorative stops consisting of an urn, a bar, and a step. The joists are also ovolo-moulded and stopped, with a trimmer beam immediately in front of the stack and cross joists. The splayed jamb and timber lintel of a large early 17th century hall window was discovered during renovations but is now concealed, as is a splayed jamb found at the inner room window. The inner room has a shallow open fireplace with a large timber lintel and rough, slender, closely-spaced crossbeams. The passage retains plain exposed joists and 19th century patterned floor tiling. The lower end room has a plain crossbeam and a large open fireplace with a chamfered lintel; the jambs have been rebuilt and the fireplace was originally wider than at present, with remains of a bread oven and a shallow niche with an iron door. The first floor retains the remains of two chamfered doorframes in the axial passage, presumably providing access to two first floor rooms from the first floor lobby of the stair prior to the creation of the axial passage. A third 17th century doorframe with one ovolo-moulded jamb and an ovolo-moulded lintel may be re-sited.

The roof contains three side-pegged smoke-blackened jointed cruck trusses with peaked collars mortised into the principals, a threaded diagonally-set ridge, and threaded purlins. Two bays are complete with smoke-blackened thatch, rafters, and battens. At the right end is a later replacement 17th century truss with a lap notched collar. Some of the trusses have been carefully repaired in the last 20 years. Soot encrustation suggests that the open hearth was sited towards the present hall stack. The owner has maintained an extensive photographic record of the repair work.

This is a multi-phase traditional house of late medieval origins displaying high quality early 17th century carpentry.