South Town

SAMPFORD SOURTENAY SAMPFORD COURTENAY SS 60 SW 11/183 South Town GV II*

House, originally farmhouse. Mid C17. Rendered cob and rubble walls. Gable ended thatch roof. 2 brick gable end stacks. Plan: unusual variation of 3-room and through passage plan with 2 principal heated rooms at either end and small unheated dairy at the centre with a short passage behind it. To the rear of the passage is a newel stair in a projection. Apart from a lengthening and rebuilding of the lower gable end wall and the removal of the partition between the left-end room and the dairy the plan remains very unaltered. Exterior: 2 storeys. Asymmetrical 4-window front of C19 small-paned 2, 3 and 4- light casements. C20 plank and part-glazed door to right of centre. All ground floor openings are original and have chamfered and stopped wooden lintels. At rear is rectangular stair projection to right of centre with original 3-light wooden mullion window. C20 wing to its right. Interior: screens passage with moulded edges to muntins, lower side screen is moulded on both sides higher side of screen chamfered on reverse. A similar screen to the lower one divides the small central room from the passage to its rear. The rignt-hand room has a chamfered cross beam with hollow step stops. The left-hand room has a fireplace with ovolo-moulded wooden lintel and rough granite jambs. It has chamfered ceiling beams and above the line of the former partition to the dairy the beam has mortices for a screen. The doorway to the stairs has an ovolo-moulded wooden frame and there is a similar doorframe at the head of the stairs. Roof: 2 original trusses survive consisting of face-pegged jointed crucks with large projecting octagonal-ended pegs. They are simply crossed at the apex with trenched purlins and dovetail-lapped collars. One is probably a closed truss and has a framed partition below it on the first floor. This is a very complete example of a mid C17 house with an interesting plan form and high quality features.

Listing NGR: SS6331000839