Berry Farm

KINGSTEIGNTON FORE STREET, Kingsteignton SX 87 SE 5/133 No 68 (Berry Farm)

GV II

House, formerly farmhouse. C17 or earlier origins with some subsequent remodelling and rear additions of the 1920s. Whitewashed and rendered, cob and stone; local reed thatched roof, gabled at left end with plain ridge; right end stack with brick shaft, rear lateral stack at junction with 1920s additions. Interior evidence suggests that the C17 plan was 3 rooms and a through passage, the lower end to the right, the hall heated by the lateral stack and an unheated inner room. There may have been an external stair turret on the rear wall of the hall adjacent to the stack. The first floor lower end room retains a moulded plaster cornice and appears to have been the principal first floor room. A rear right wing may have been a C17 service room, a kitchen or dairy, with an upper storey added at a later date. A wide stair has been inserted in the passage and the hall and inner room roof trusses may be replacements. In the 1920s a rear left addition under a 2- span roof provided additional accommodation. There is a possibility that the origins of the house are late medieval and the visible early evidence at time of survey (1986) suggests a C17 remodelling an open hall house. 2 storeys. Asymmetrical 2 window front, the eaves thatch eyebrowed over first floor window right. Shallow gabled C20 porch to right of centre leading into former passage, now stair hall. Fenestration of C19 and C20 casements with glazing bars, the embrasures probably C19. Interior : Several early features of interest in a modernised interior. Both hall screens survive, the passage screen has chamfered muntins with low diagonal stops, the higher end screen is less complete and plainer. A blocked doorway adjacent to the hall fireplace has narrow chamfered jambs with scroll stops and may have lead to a stair turret. Thin exposed joists to the hall and lower end room are probably C18 or later replacements. The ground floor of the rear right wing has a chamfered stopped cross beam. The 2 right hand trusses are boxed in but appear to be jointed crucks with a moulded plaster cornice carried out round the principals and continued into the cupboard over the stairs. The trusses over the hall and inner room have straight principals and may be later replacements. No access to roofspace at time of survey (1986) but the apexes of the roof trusses are likely to be of interest. Berry Farm is on a prominent corner site in Kingsteignton and is an interesting survival of a former farmhouse close to the town centre.

Listing NGR: SX8728373004