Thorne Farmhouse

Thorne Farmhouse is a farmhouse with a late medieval core, significantly altered and extended during the 16th, 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. The building is constructed of stone rubble, whitewashed and rendered. The roof is partly thatched and partly slated, gabled at the left end and hipped at the right end of the main range, with a 2-span slate roof to the rear wing incorporating 2 gables. Rendered chimneys are positioned at the left end, as an axial stack at the junction between the thatched and slated sections, and as a gable-end stack to the rear wing.

The building originated as a late medieval open hall house, possibly containing an inner room. In the late 16th century, the hall was ceiled over and a cross passage with a lower end room were added. The hall was heated by a stack backing onto the passage, while the lower end room functioned as an unheated service room. In the early 18th century, the 3-room plan with through passage was extended by the addition of a rear kitchen and service room with a rear stair. The lower end fireplace was probably inserted in the early 18th century to convert the service room into a heated parlour. Around 1800, a new stair was inserted at the rear of the passage.

The building is 2 storeys tall with an asymmetrical 3-window front. A 20th-century gabled porch stands on the front to the left of the axial stack and leads into the cross passage. A small bay with a sloping slate roof occupies the ground floor right, probably dating to the 18th century, and features a 3-light casement with 6 panes per light. All fenestration is fitted with plain architraves: 3-light casements with 6 panes per light to the ground and first floors on the left; a 2-light casement with 6 panes per light above the porch; and a 2-light casement with 3 panes per light to the first floor window to the left of the bay.

The interior retains exceptional original features. Over the hall is a curved foot smoke-blackened truss with an E-apex, known as an Alcock truss. The hall fireplace is blocked with a 20th-century grate, probably concealing earlier features. The ceiling includes 2 narrow chamfered half beams with cut stops and chamfered joists with step stops. The ends of the chamfered central beam have been replaced. A trimmer beam indicates that a straight stair once existed to the right of the fireplace, probably replacing an earlier newel stair. The projecting bay retains an 18th-century planked back.

The front door to the passage is cross-planked with imitation bolts in wooden studs and is either a notable 17th-century door or possibly 18th or 19th-century archaic in style. A similar rear side door to the passage is narrower with horizontal planks to the exterior and may have been reversed when the rear stair was inserted. The passage contains 2 chamfered half beams, one with a scroll stop. The rear stair inserted around 1800 is of high status, featuring a turned newel post.

The lower end room on the left has a fireplace with a plain lintel and a recess to the right with a low rough lintel. A moulded cornice runs around the room, and there is a cross and half beam with small scroll stops. The room also contains a circa late 18th or early 19th-century parlour china cupboard. The first floor has a chamfered 17th-century doorframe with scroll stops.

The house preserves a notably unspoiled interior that illustrates the small scale of some high-status west Devon houses when compared with their counterparts in east Devon. It has been described as an important example of successive developments in a small west Devon farmhouse.