Underhayes Farmhouse

Underhayes Farmhouse

A farmhouse, mostly dating from the early to mid-17th century, though it may represent a remodelling of an earlier house. Early 18th-century refurbishment and late 19th or 20th-century re-roofing have left their marks. The building is constructed of rendered cob with a slate roof, gabled at the left end and hipped at the right. An axial stack rises from the interior, with a projecting front lateral stack that has a truncated shaft.

The present plan comprises four rooms and a through passage. Internal evidence indicates the early core, possibly predating the 17th century, was originally a two-room and through-passage arrangement: the lower end to the right (probably the kitchen), the hall to the left of centre with an axial stack backing onto the passage, and the lower end heated by the front lateral stack. A small unheated inner room, likely an addition but no later than the 18th century, appears always to have served as a service room. The right-hand room, adjoining the lower end, was formerly a stable with a loft above; the stable has been converted to residential accommodation, though the loft continues in use as an outbuilding. Early 18th-century refurbishment included a first-floor corridor providing access to the bedrooms. A single-storey, one-room addition at the rear left, at right angles to the hall, dates probably to the 19th or 20th century.

The house rises two storeys. The front elevation is asymmetrical with three windows; the right side of the front lateral stack has no windows. A centrally placed front door is sheltered by a flat corrugated iron canopy. The front door itself is a good early 18th-century example, with fielded panels and a pegged doorframe. The two left-hand ground-floor windows are four-light casements with four panes per light. The ground-floor window to the right is a two-light casement with three panes per light. First-floor windows are three and four-light casements with three panes per light; one is a 17th-century mullioned window with deeply chamfered mullions on the inner face.

The interior contains features of considerable interest. The hall, dating from the early to mid-17th century, retains ovolo-moulded cross beams incised with a cross before the stop. A good open fireplace has an ovolo-moulded lintel and moulded granite jambs. The doorframe between passage and hall is ovolo-moulded. The stairs in the hall rise adjacent to the stack; they may originally have been a newel stair but were later adapted to a straight stair with plain splat balusters. A chamfered stopped 17th-century doorway opens on the first floor. The thick cross wall between the hall and inner room has a one-light first-floor window with a circa 17th-century or earlier timber frame, suggesting this wall was originally external. On the ground floor, the inner room features a chamfered axial beam. Small cupboards, appearing to date from the 18th century, are set into wall thicknesses throughout the passage, hall, and stairwell; some have fielded panels, and one bears butterfly hinges. The cross beams at the lower end are boxed in, and the fireplace has a 20th-century grate, which may conceal earlier features. The roof trusses are late 19th or 20th-century work, and the roof pitch has been altered, probably when roofing material changed from thatch to slate. Surviving stubs of what is probably a 17th-century truss, possibly a jointed cruck, remain.

The house was formerly in the ownership of Torre Abbey. It is a good example of the regional building type, retaining a very complete 17th-century hall and an unspoiled front elevation conspicuous from the road, untouched by 20th-century window replacements.