Swaddledown

Swaddledown is a farmhouse at Bratton Clovelly, probably an early 17th-century remodelling of a medieval house that may originally have been a longhouse. A Victorian addition was made later. The building has rendered stone rubble and cob walls with a slate roof, hipped to the right end of the old house and gabled to its left end; the 19th-century block is hipped. The old house features a granite ashlar chimney with a tapering cap at the left gable end and a rubble and granite ashlar axial stack, and now sits at the rear of the building.

Evidence of reused smoke-blackened timbers in the roof suggests this was a substantial remodelling of a medieval structure. The surviving plan comprises a through-passage with a very small unheated lower room to its right, a hall with a fireplace backing onto the passage, and a larger inner room heated by a gable end stack. The original form of the lower end is unclear as it appears to have been truncated, and the pronounced downhill slope suggests an original longhouse plan. Either the shippon was demolished during remodelling and replaced by a small service room, or the service room existed between the passage and shippon, as at the nearby Chimsworthy. A thick wall between the hall and inner room, extending at least to eaves height and possibly originally to the apex, is characteristic of early houses in the area. It is unclear whether this wall marked the original end of the hall before extension, though it may pre-date the 17th-century remodelling.

In Victorian times an L-shaped front block was added, likely relegating the old house to secondary uses. A later 19th-century dairy was added as a lean-to against the lower right end.

The building is two storeys with an asymmetrical four-window front to the old house. On the first floor is a 19th-century three-light small-paned casement to the left, with two early 20th-century three-light casements to its right. To the far right on the first floor is a late 19th or early 20th-century four-pane sash. The ground floor has a three-light 19th-century casement to the left and a similar late 20th-century casement at the centre. To the right of centre is a late 19th or early 20th-century lean-to porch with a 20th-century plank door, which leads to the passage. A small single-light early 20th-century casement sits to its right. A late 19th-century outshut was added against the right-hand end wall.

Interior features include a probably 18th-century roof structure with straight principal rafters, lapped and pegged collars, and purlins running along the backs of the principals. Some timbers, including a purlin, are smoke-blackened and reused from a medieval roof. The passage has a chamfered cross beam with straight cut stops; at its lower end is the head beam for a plank and muntin screen with chamfered mason's mitres; the screen itself was recently removed. The lower room has a chamfered cross beam adjoining the screen head-beam, with joists chamfered and stopped with diagonal stops. The hall contains a granite-framed fireplace with a straight roll-moulded lintel. The inner room has a chamfered granite-framed fireplace and a good-quality beamed ceiling comprising a heavy chamfered cross beam with step stops and similarly decorated joists. Above the inner room, the two chambers are divided by a plank and muntin screen with chamfered muntins and a head-beam with mason's mitres; the bottom appears to have rotted and been repaired. The chamber at the higher end has a granite-framed fireplace with chamfered jambs featuring step stops. In the adjoining gable wall is a contemporary small-arched wooden doorway rebated for a door, leading only to a small recess but possibly originally serving as a garderobe.

The house retains numerous good-quality early features and has an interesting plan and development history open to several interpretations.