Waddon Thatch

CHUDLEIGH WADDON SX 87 NE 4/82 Waddon Thatch 4.4.78 II

House. C17 with subsequent internal remodelling and 1940s alterations and extension. Whitewashed and rendered, stone to first floor level, cob above, the 1940s work in concrete block; thatched roof, gabled at right end, hipped at left end; right end projecting stack with adjoining corbelled stack to first floor room right. The plan is something of a puzzle. The original range of the house is single-depth, 2 rooms wide with evidence of a former passage or lobby entrance (rear door opposed to front door, surviving mortices for a short section of partition wall). There seem to be 2 possible explanations of the unusual arrangement, either the left hand room has never been heated, or it originally had a stack, either on the rear wall which is buttressed externally, or on the axial wall and thus originally backing on to a passage. If the left hand room was originally unheated the right hand room presumably served as a hall/kitchen with storage at the lower end. In the 1940s an outbuilding adjoining the range at the left was incorporated into the house accommodation with a second storey and a rear right thatched wing was added giving an overall L plan. 2 storeys. Asymmetrical 1 + 3 window front with timber guttering. The left hand end has a central thatched porch on posts, and the left hand first and ground floor window are 3-light circa late C17 with octagonal mullions and glazing with square leaded panes. The ground floor window has stanchions intact. The window above the porch and the right hand first floor window are 3-light with circa early C18 mullions and square leaded panes. Ground floor window right is a C20 3-light casement, 3 panes per light. The left hand (largely 1940s) end has 1 first floor 3-light mullioned window (a copy of the adjacent C17 window) and a ground floor 3-light casement, 3 panes per light. Interior The 3-bay roof has 2 jointed cruck trusses with threaded purlins with scarf joints, a threaded ridge and collars mortised into the principals. Most of the rafters and original battens are intact. The right hand ground floor room has a chamfered cross beam with runout stops surprisingly close to the partition wall and an open fireplace with stone jambs, a replaced lintel and the remains of a bread oven. The stair rises in the left hand room, adjacent to the former partition. A number of plank doors, 1 with HL hinges, survive. An attractive vernacular house of the region with interesting internal features and a very unspoiled exterior.

Listing NGR: SX8842479663