Wear Farmhouse And Kitchen Garden Walls

Wear Farmhouse and Kitchen Garden Walls

Farmhouse, probably dating from the early 17th century with substantial remodelling in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, though the building may have earlier origins. The house is constructed of rendered stone with a slate roof, gabled at the left end and hipped to the front of the right crosswing. It features a main block with a left end stack and projecting rear lateral stack, a projecting stack to the crosswing, and an end stack to the kitchen wing.

The building follows a courtyard plan with a single-depth south-facing main range overlooking the Teign estuary. The main range contains two principal high-quality rooms on either side of a through passage, with a crosswing at the right (east) end. A north wing at right angles to the main range (at the rear left) contains the stair and a service room. A kitchen wing, parallel to the main range and external to the courtyard, adjoins on the left (west). The courtyard behind the main range is enclosed at the back by a much-altered farmbuilding to the north.

The earliest surviving features, observed during survey in 1987, appear in the east crosswing, which contains an early 17th-century roof structure, though the main range may be as early or earlier. The north wing is unheated, suggesting the kitchen wing, despite its plain detailing, may also date from the 17th century. The house stands on a steeply sloping site with massive retaining walls enclosing the kitchen garden to the north.

Exterior: The building is two storeys tall. The south front is a fine, symmetrical composition of seven bays with rusticated quoins and an early 19th-century six-bay glazed verandah on posts. A wide 18th or early 19th-century front door occupies the centre. A complete set of late 17th and early 18th-century high transomed windows is arranged in two groups of three, each featuring square leaded panes and iron casements with leaded panes and original window furniture. The crosswing to the right has two similar first-floor and two ground-floor windows with rusticated quoins. The right (east) return of the crosswing has a shallow projecting lateral stack. Two ground-floor three-light late 17th and early 18th-century windows with square leaded panes are paired with two similar first-floor windows, one set within a gabled dormer and one late 19th or early 20th-century four-pane sash on the left. A 20th-century conservatory and door occupy the ground floor left. A tall wall between the north end of the crosswing and a farm building to the north contains a doorway to the courtyard.

Interior: The passage in the main range contains a circa 1700 rear door. The left-hand room is a high-quality 17th-century parlour with ovolo-moulded stopped crossbeams; the room has been reduced in depth at the rear by a later axial partition. A 20th-century chimneypiece is said to conceal a larger, earlier fireplace. The right-hand room is an outstanding early 18th-century space featuring a decorated plaster ceiling with quatrefoil ornament in large panels, pretty rounded window seats, and panelled shutters; it contains a 19th-century marble chimneypiece. Some repartitioning of the first-floor rooms has occurred, but a circa 1700 door suggests there was originally a large chamber of this date in the main range. The interior of the crosswing was not inspected at the time of survey in 1987 and is said to be modernized, though the old list description refers to panelling and a marble chimneypiece which may still survive. The attic storey was used for accommodation; it remains partly floored and partitioned and was formerly plastered.

Roof: The east crosswing features pegged collar rafter roof trusses of early 17th-century character (possibly crucks of some type), with collars lap-dovetailed into the principals. The circa late 17th-century roof over the main range has collar rafter pegged trusses with collars halved and pegged onto the principals. The remainder of the house is roofed with 19th-century king post and strut trusses. Tall stone rubble walls enclosing the kitchen garden are included in the listing.