Great Beere Farmhouse

NORTH TAWTON SS 60 SE 6/65 Great Beere Farmhouse II Farmhouse. Circa early C17 with 018 addition. Rendered cob and stone rubble walls. Gable ended thatched roof. 3 stacks : 2 brick - one at left gable end and one axial and projecting rubble and cob lateral stack at rear. Plan: 4-room plan with central through passage, all apparently integral. To left of passage is hall heated by axial stack backing onto passage. Beyond it is heated inner room with gable end fireplace. At the other side of the passage is a room which probably functioned as a kitchen with a large rear lateral fireplace. Beyond it is a smaller unheated service room. In circa mid C18 a framed staircase was added in a projection at the rear of the hall with an adjoining outshut behind the inner room. Exterior: 2 storeys. Long asymmetrical 6-window front of C20 casements - 2-light to first floor, 3-light to ground floor except right-hand window which is 2-light. First floor windows are half-dormers. At centre is C20 plank door. Rear elevation has outshut at right-hand end which incorporates gabled stair projection. The gable retains its original C18 moulded barge-boards. Below is a probably contemporary 4- light window with square section wooden mullions into which C19 casements have been inserted. To the left a C20 leanto has been added. Good interior: the through passage has a cobbled floor. To the right of the passage the kitchen has a very wide fireplace with chamfered wooden lintel which has hollow step stops; oven on left-hand side. Chamfered ceiling beam. The unheated room at extreme right also has chamfered ceiling beams with pyramid stops. The hall has a smaller open fireplace with chamfered wooden lintel which has jewel and concave stops; oven in right-hand side. Chamfered cross beams with hollow step stops. Leading out of the higher end of the hall are 3 C18 fielded 4-panel doors of an unusual design with 2 smaller central panels. One leads into the inner room, one into the rear outshut and an adjoining one to the staircase. There are 3 similar doors on the first floor. The C18 dog-leg stairs have a closed string, turned balusters and square newels. Roof trusses are probably C18 with straight principals and collars slightly set into them and pegged. The more unusual C17 4-room plan-form of this house remains very unaltered apart from the C18 additions which are in themselves interesting; good quality features are preserved from both periods.

Listing NGR: SS6901803372