Former Service Range Approximately 5 Metres To North West Of Woolleigh Barton

Former service range approximately 5 metres to the north-west of Woolleigh Barton

This service range, now used as a store, shippons and hayloft, dates to around 1500 with alterations and enlargement in the 17th century. It is built of uncoursed stone rubble with stone cob to the first floor at the front (possibly formerly entirely cob but since mostly rebuilt). The 17th-century extension is constructed in squared and coursed stone with one granite window. The roof is covered in corrugated asbestos, probably formerly thatched, with gable ends to the left and a hipped roof to the right. Welsh-slate and corrugated-iron lean-to roofs cover rear outshuts. The building is two storeys with one-storey outshuts.

The range forms a long service building enclosing a small service court to the rear of Woolleigh Barton, running parallel with the hall range of the house and adjoining the rear corner of the cross wing, facing north-west with ground falling to the right. The medieval part to the left was formerly open to the roof, as evidenced by smoke-blackened timbers, and possibly served as a separate kitchen and service block to Woolleigh Barton. Alterations in the 17th century probably included insertion of the first floor and division into two rooms by a stone cross wall. An integral lateral stack was inserted at the rear of the late medieval part and an integral end stack at the left-hand end, both now truncated at eaves level. A substantial 17th-century addition to the right doubles the length of the range, possibly originally for service or domestic use but latterly probably stables. Coach-house doors were probably inserted at the left-hand end in the 17th or 18th century. Minor late 19th-century lean-to additions exist at the rear.

The exterior features two loft doorways with a small loft opening between them and another small loft opening to the left. Four ground-floor boarded doors with wooden lintels face right, with the left-hand one having a very large window, and a small 2-light window with wooden lintel to their left. A pair of large double boarded doors with wooden lintel appears at the left, representing the probable former coach-house doorway. A blocked doorway lies between the double doors and window. The right-hand front corner angles back, possibly formerly square but later rebuilt. The right-hand return front contains a blocked loft window and a ground-floor small 17th-century double hollow-chamfered granite window, formerly with a central mullion and with holes in the cill for former stanchions. A first-floor boarded door in the left-hand gable end is approached by external steps. A doorway in the rear of the left-hand end has a boarded door and wooden lintel. A blocked doorway appears at the rear of the right-hand end. A continuous 19th-century lean-to addition at the rear is open-fronted to the centre.

The interior reveals that the left-hand ground-floor room of the medieval part, latterly used as a coach house, has cross beams, while the right-hand room has a roughly chamfered spine beam. A late medieval 5-bay smoke-blackened roof spans the left-hand part. Three side-pegged jointed cruck trusses to the left feature mortice and tenoned apices, with the right-hand one incorporated in the later cross wall. Pairs of threaded purlins and a diagonally-set ridge-piece support the roof. Two trusses to the right of the cross wall have straight principals, possibly formerly jointed crucks but later cut back at the base, with mortice and tenoned cranked collars and mortice and tenoned apices. Pairs of threaded purlins and diagonally-set ridge-pieces are present, with the current ridge probably a later replacement. Some old blackened purlins survive in this section of roof. The right-hand truss was probably formerly closed, with 2 blackened studs above the collar and 4 mortices in the underside of the collar, probably for 4 former studs below the collar. The 17th-century roof over the right-hand end has trusses with straight principals and halved lapped collars.

The exact original function of this building remains unclear, although it was obviously open to the roof and heated by an open hearth fire. The chronology of later developments is also uncertain and the building requires further investigation and study.