North Breazle Farmhouse

BRATTON CLOVELLY SX 49 SW

6/9 North Breazle Farmhouse - - II*

Farmhouse. Circa 1500 with C17 and C20 alterations. Rendered cob walls. Gable ended slate roof. Projecting rubble stack at left gable end; rendered rubble stack at right gable end; projecting rubble lateral stack at right side of hall bay with rendered brick shaft. 3-room and through-passage plan. Both the lower and inner rooms have solid wall partitions, the latter full height, the former only head height. Originally with central hearth open to the roof at least over the hall. Ceiled in early to mid C17 when hall stack was added integral to a large projecting hall bay, lateral to its right-hand wall. Inner and lower room gable end stacks also inserted in C17; newel stairs in projection at rear of inner room. In C20 rear door of passage blocked and staircase inserted there. The lower room fireplace was removed and a door put in its place. 2 storeys. Asymmetrical 3-window front with large projecting 2-storey gabled hall bay at centre. Mainly C19 casements although left-hand and right-hand first floor windows are C20 of 2 and 4 lights. Ground floor windows to left and centre are 4- light with a 3-light window to the right. First floor window at centre has 2 lights. These windows have H-L hinges. To right of centre is C19 panelled and glazed door to front of passage under C20 porch with leanto slate roof. Rear elevation towards right-hand end has semi-circular projection for newel stairs. Interior: Over lower end of hall 1 arch-braced smoke-blackened truss survives with rafters and ridge, which has curved feet the full extent of which are not visible. Morticed cambered collar and threaded purlins with morticed apex and diagonal ridge. Inner room truss visible only on 1st floor possibly contemporary with morticed cambered collar. Over the lower end are softwood trusses probably C18 or C19. The doorway to the hall from the passage has a shouldered cranked head but is encased on the front. The hall fireplace has a chamfered wooden lintel with ogee stops and chamfered granite jambs. The lower room has chamfered longitudinal beams with hollow step stops; on 1 beam the stop curiously finishes further in on one side than the oth<r. The particular interest of this house is in the large hall bay with its integral stack which is a most unusual feature and might be a unique arrangement. The hall is quite narrow from higher to lower side, so when the hall was floored there would not have been much room for the stack in the conventional position. The solution was to build a large hall bay thereby enlarging the hall and putting the fireplace in the bay.

Listing NGR: SX4489892115