Jackmansdown

Jackmansdown

This is a two-storey rectangular house standing on a north-south alignment, with its entrance facing east. The building shows clear evidence of a complex constructional history, with original cob walls surviving in the northern section of the east elevation, whilst the remainder of the walls have been extensively rebuilt in coursed rubble stone with dressed quoins. The roof is hipped at the south end, accommodating the original thatch, and gabled at the north end, either reflecting its original form or resulting from rebuilding at this end; the current covering is of asbestos cement sheeting. A rebuilt stone chimney stack is present.

The plan is one room deep, with a two-room arrangement on both ground and first floors, and an additional partition has been inserted on the first floor. A dilapidated corrugated iron lean-to stands at the south end, whilst the remains of a small stone extension, believed to have been a lavatory, are visible at the north end.

The principal east elevation features a central entrance and a ground-floor window to the left. The northern part of the walling, which includes the doorway, is of original cob, indicating the position of the former lean-to. To the right of the doorway, a lintel and area of stone infill suggest that the door was moved at the time the lean-to was erected. The current doorway has an insubstantial lintel, plain wooden frame, and planked door, all apparently of 19th-century date. The window has a brick arch; the wooden frame has been reused, cutting down an earlier mullioned window consistent with a 17th-century date, though it may not have belonged to the building originally.

The west elevation is entirely of stone, with two windows at ground-floor level and two to the first floor, having flat arches of dressed stone. The upper window frames appear to be 20th-century; the left-hand ground-floor window frame has largely been lost, and the right-hand ground-floor opening, now very shallow, appears to be a modified doorway. The south wall is blind, with some cob at the top on the left-hand side, used for fixing the former thatch; this part has been filled with brick on the right-hand side. The north wall is also blind, again showing evidence of cob wall-tops, with the remains of a small stone lean-to extension against the eastern part of the wall.

Internally, the ground floor is divided into two rooms by a cobbed-over stud partition of 17th-century character, though its attachment method—lapped onto the cross beam above rather than morticed in—suggests it was re-affixed, possibly following the rebuilding of the walls. The central beam is chamfered on the north but not the south side, as is the beam against the south wall; both beams have stops at the east ends but not the west ends, suggesting reuse or modification at the time of stone rebuilding. The southern room's floor shows clear evidence of reconfiguration, with redundant joist seatings visible. The northern room contains a fireplace with a substantial bressumer, chamfered on both sides, also suggesting reuse. A clay bread oven was inserted in the east wall, probably in the 19th century. A 19th-century wooden bench is built into the wall beneath the west window of the northern room, with evidence of an earlier bench beneath it. A 19th-century timber stair with stick balusters and chamfered newel posts rises to the south of the door, appearing to occupy the site of the original access to the upper floor.

Three 17th-century roof trusses remain, with notched and halved collars, and morticed and tenoned apexes, all pegged; the collars are chamfered. The fourth truss, at the north end of the building, appears to date from the 19th century. A small fireplace with no surround is present on the upper floor at the north end. The upper floor is divided by two partitions, the southern one probably belonging to the primary phase, and the northern one, which cuts across a window, being later.

To the south and east of the house are agricultural buildings: a barn to the south and an L-shaped range to the east, creating a loose courtyard. These buildings are of cob and rubble stone, their thatched roof coverings having been replaced with corrugated iron.

The cob barn, shown on the tithe map, was probably used for threshing amongst other functions. It has a wide opening with a timber lintel to the north wall; the south wall has been rebuilt in concrete blocks, making it unclear whether corresponding access existed from this direction, though the bank behind the barn probably affected this. To the left of the central opening is a small window. A dilapidated lean-to store is constructed against the west wall.

The L-shaped range comprises buildings constructed at different phases, as indicated by varying roof levels; the northern part appears on the tithe map. This range served mixed purposes, providing shelter for animals as well as cart storage. The northern section is partly open to the front, with the roof supported on posts now collapsing. Some hayracks remain against the east and south walls of the range. A window is set high in the east wall of the central section. The southern section, which predates the 1887 Ordnance Survey map, has a central dividing stone wall and retains its A-frame roof structure of roughly hewn timbers.