South Halstow Farmhouse

Farmhouse. It probably dates from the early 16th century, with substantial remodelling in the late 17th century. The exterior is whitewashed cob with a slate roof gabled at the ends. A projecting front lateral stack has a brick shaft, with further projecting stacks at the right and left ends. The building’s development has been complex, and the remains of two smoke-blackened medieval roofs at different levels are unusual; it's possible that the hall was enlarged and the upper roof originally extended higher over the lower end. A document from 1539 refers to the building being partly floored. The current layout consists of three rooms and a through passage, with the lower end to the left. The hall is heated by a front lateral stack, while the inner and lower end rooms are heated by gable end stacks. Smaller rear left and right projections contain staircases and likely date after the main range. A rear lean-to between the projections is probably even later. The façade is asymmetrical, with five windows across two storeys. A 20th-century flat-roofed porch sits to the left of the projecting lateral stack. The left side of the front has 16-pane sash windows, while the right side has two-light casements with six panes per light. Inside, the hall has an open fireplace with stone jambs and a stop-chamfered lintel, a stone paved floor, and a stop-chamfered cross beam. The lower end room features a stop-chamfered cross beam and an open fireplace with Posbury stone jambs and a stop-chamfered lintel. Two late 17th-century texts are painted directly onto the wall plaster on the first floor. One, in the rear left stairwell, is a verse with a painted border. A second text above a doorway has a painted border of arabesques and foliage; while the text may have been repainted, the initials "G H" at the top appear original. Parts of the two medieval roofs survive below more recent roofs; the lower roof includes one jointed cruck truss and a ridge propped on the cob wall between the inner room and hall, which is also sooted. Two trusses of a roof at a higher level survive, one over the lower end room. A 1539 lease refers to "one parlor within the hall there, with a chamber over." This is an attractive, evolving farmhouse with rare survivals of late 17th-century wall murals.