Great Huish Farmhouse

ST GILES SS 51 NW IN THE WOOD 7/191 Great Huish Farmhouse - II

Farmhouse. Mid C17, maybe earlier origins, modernised in the mid-late C19 and kitchen wing altered circa 1970. Plastered cob on stone rubble footings, whitewashed rear wall; stone rubble stacks with plastered brick chimney shafts; slate roof, formerly thatch. Plan and development: L-plan house. The main block faces south-south-east, say south. It has 4-room plan. At the left (west) end is a parlour with a projecting gable-end stack. Next is an entrance lobby onto a straight flight staircase and then the hall or dining room with an axial stack backing onto the staircase. To right of the hall/dining room is an unheated room, probably a buttery, and, at the right (east) end a pair of unheated service rooms divided by an axial wall. The rear service room projects to rear a little. A 1-room plan kitchen block projects at right angles in front of the right end and its axial stack backs onto the main block. The kitchen wing is a C19 addition and it was reduced to a single storey circa 1970. The main block was modernised in the mid-late C19 and most of the structure is hidden behind plaster. It is tempting to interpret the layout as deriving from a C16 open hall house with a 3 or 4-room-and-through-passage plan. However the rear wall which is only white-washed has no sign of a passage rear doorway. As far as can be seen it is a single phase mid C17 farmhouse. 2 storeys and single storey kitchen wing. Exterior: Main block has an irregular 4-window front of C20 casements with glazing bars. The front doorway is left of centre and contains a part-glazed C20 door. Kitchen wing has a C20 casement either side of the doorway which contains a C20 door behind a contemporary porch. The main block roof is gable-ended to left and to right it returns forward stepping down to the kitchen which is gable-ended. Interior shows mostly the results of C19 and C20 modernisations. The hall/dining room and parlour fireplaces are blocked by C19 grates and little carpentry is exposed. However the hall/dining room has a mid C17 crossbeam (broad ovolo mouldings with stepped runout stops) and there is a contemporary chamfered doorframe between the buttery and service rooms. The roof was not available for inspection at the time of this survey although the bases of straight principals show at first floor level indicating A-frame trusses. The farmer claims they are pegged together and, if so, they are probably C17.

Listing NGR: SS5257117921