Little Southcott

Little Southcott is a house with origins dating to the early 16th century, significantly remodelled in the mid to late 19th century. The walls are a mix of rendered and colourwashed rubble and cob, with a gable-ended slate roof over the left-hand section. A large, slightly projecting rubble stack is situated at the front, and a small brick shaft is visible at the left gable end.

The original layout is not entirely clear, but it likely consisted of three rooms with a through-passage. The left-hand, lower room has been rebuilt, while the inner room has been converted into an outbuilding. The hall is heated by a front lateral stack, and although the stack’s date is uncertain, the hall screen’s two doorways imply it may have been reused. A 20th-century addition is located at the rear of the left-hand room.

The front facade is asymmetrical, consisting of two distinct parts at different angles. The left-hand part has mid- to late-19th-century 16-pane sash windows on both floors. The section to the right has a two-light casement window on the first floor and a single-light casement window below, both to the left of the wide lateral stack. A 19th-century four-panel door is situated to the left of the stack, and the outbuilding to the right of the stack has double doors with a wide loading hatch above.

The screen passage survives, but the screens are of differing dates. The right-hand screen, dividing the hall, has chamfered muntins and two chamfered pointed arch doorways, the front one being smaller, suggesting an early 16th-century origin. The screen to the left-hand side is of 17th-century date, with ovolo-moulded muntins on the passage side, which are chamfered on the opposite side. The right-hand room contains a heavy chamfered axial beam, and its fireplace is blocked. The roof structure was entirely replaced in the 19th century.