Lower Farm Farmhouse

HALWILL HALWILL SX 49 NW 4/80 Lower Farm Farmhouse - GV II Farmhouse. Circa late C16 or earlier origins, alterations of the circa early C18. Whitewashed rendered cob and stone rubble. Corrugated asbestos roof, formerly thatched, gabled at ends. Axial stone rubble stack. The C16 plan was a 2-room house with a baffle entry into a small lobby in front of the side wall of the chimney breast. The hall, at the left end, is larger than the unheated right-hand room. Improvements of the early C18 added a very small kitchen at the left end with a gable end stack turning the former hall/kitchen into a hall/parlour and inserting a stair against the rear wall of the hall/parlour. The house was probably re-roofed at the same date, a woodstore with granary over added at the right end and a rear left dairy under a lean-to roof. In the C20 the eaves were raised when the thatch was replaced with asbestos. 2 storeys. The house has an asymmetrical 2-window front with a gabled porch with a slated roof to the right. The hall window, ground floor left, has a timber lintel and a 4-light late C19/early C20 casement, 2 panes per light. A small rectangular window to the left of the porch may be a former stair light. 2 first floor windows, one 4-light and one 3-light late C19/early C20 casements, 2 panes per light. The circa early C18 kitchen at the left end has a slate roof separate entrance on the front, a 2-light first floor casement, 2 panes per light, and a projecting left gable stack with set-offs and a dismantled shaft. The woodstore and granary block at the right end is under a slightly lower roofline, with an entrance to the woodstore on the front in the centre, a 1-light ground floor window to the left and a first floor 3-light casement, 2 panes per light. Steps lead up to the granary doorway on the right return. Interior The hall as 2 exposed C16 ceiling beams with deep chamfers and step stops, the fireplace has been modified in the C20 but is said to conceal earlier jambs and lintel. The early C18 stair has bobbin turned balusters to the first flight and splat balusters to a short flight on the first floor. Early C18 joinery includes 2- panel and plank and batten doors. C18 pegged collar rafter roof with X apex trusses below a C20 roof. Datestone of 1739 on front with initials "W.B.". The baffle entry plan is unusual. for the region and Devon in general. The evolution of the plan and use of rooms is an interesting feature of this house which has not been much altered since the C19.

Listing NGR: SX4265499344