Rydon Farmhouse

Rydon Farmhouse

A former farmhouse of early 16th-century origin, substantially remodelled in the early or mid-17th century. The building stands as a Grade II* listed structure of significant architectural and historical interest.

The exterior presents two storeys, constructed of whitewashed rendered cob on stone rubble footings with exposed stone quoins. The first floor of the stair wing employs stud and plaster infill construction. The roof is thatched, gabled at both ends with hipping at the end of the front wing and gabling at the stair wing. Three chimney stacks serve the building: a left end stack with rendered shaft, an axial stack with granite shaft, and a right end stack with rendered shaft incorporating a bread oven.

The building displays an asymmetrical two-window front elevation. The front door accesses the through passage slightly left of centre; to its right an 18th or 19th-century three-light timber casement with small panes lights the hall. Two first floor two-light 20th-century timber casements are positioned above. The front right wing has a separate entrance and is served by one first floor and one ground floor three-light 20th-century timber casement with glazing bars.

The plan reveals a late medieval open hall house of three rooms in width. The lower end to the left originally contained evidence of two open hearths. Both the lower end room and inner room were floored and jetted into the hall before the hall itself was floored. The lower end room functioned as a parlour while the inner room served as kitchen. The hall was subsequently floored with a stack inserted backing onto the passage. A rear stair in a wing opening off the hall features a winder stair rising to a small first floor landing. The front right wing, at right angles to the inner room, may be a later, possibly 18th-century service wing or may have functioned as a farmbuilding. An 18th or 19th-century rear lean-to extends from the lower end room, originally used as a dairy but converted to domestic use in the late 20th century.

The interior retains very complete and high-quality carpentry details. The passage is separated from the lower end room by a plank and muntin screen; a short section of plank and muntin screen divides the passage from the hall, with the remainder of this wall occupied by the hall stack. The lower end room contains two ovolo-moulded cross beams, one partly dressed-off, with scratch-moulded joists and exposed first floor floorboards. Its open fireplace features granite jambs, triangular on plan, and the remains of an ovolo-moulded timber lintel behind a replacement lintel. A chamfered doorframe on the rear wall probably marks a former stair, subsequently removed, possibly when the dairy was added.

The hall features a fine open fireplace with chamfered granite jambs bearing pyramid stops, a moulded timber lintel, and bread oven. A moulded doorframe in the rear wall provides access to the winder stair. The higher end hall partition is a plank and muntin screen with pyramid-stopped muntins; chamfered jetty beams indicate internal jetties at both ends of the hall. The inner room contains a plain cross beam and open fireplace with chamfered lintel featuring one step stop and a bread oven, though the right-hand jamb has been partly rebuilt. Two 17th-century doors and doorframes lead from the first floor stair landing.

The roof structure demonstrates considerable historical significance. Sooted rafters survive the entire length of the main range, with one section of sooted thatch remaining intact. Three smoke-blackened main trusses, probably jointed crucks with mortised collars, feature a diagonally-set threaded ridge and trenched purlins. The rafters rest outside the purlins and are pegged onto the outer faces of the ridge. A closed truss above the lower end jetty shows sooting on both sides, indicating two open hearths, though the mechanics of this arrangement remain unclear. No medieval truss survives over the lower end; instead a clean, probably 17th-century truss, presumably added to provide extra support to the sooted ridge and rafters, is present. A circa late 16th-century clean truss above the rear wing features a mortised collar.