Bridford Barton

Bridford Barton

Farmhouse with origins dating to the early or mid 14th century, with a probable early 15th-century rear wing and partial re-roofing of the 14th-century block in the early 16th century. The building underwent remodelling around the early 17th century and further alterations in the 20th century. The structure is rendered stone and cob, whitewashed, with a thatched roof gabled at the ends. It features an axial stack with granite shaft heating the early 17th-century hall, and an axial stack to the right of centre with a brick shaft, with a left end stack probably dating to the 20th century.

The house is arranged on an overall U-plan with a three-room main block and cross passage facing east, supplemented by short rear left and rear right wings. The building originated as a grand and exceptionally early medieval open hall, probably comprising two cells, with a roof of base cruck design. Two bays of this survive with two intermediate ties. The surviving left end truss is a spere truss with aisle posts, presumably marking a division in the original house. To the left of this truss, the early roof has been replaced by a conventional early 16th-century jointed cruck truss.

The rear left wing, also retaining an unusually early smoke-blackened roof, probably once had an independent open hearth. When the building was floored in around the early 17th century, a hall stack was inserted backing on to the cross passage, with a heated inner room at the right end. The range was subsequently extended to the right by an outbuilding, and a barn was added at the rear right; both the outbuilding and barn have been absorbed into the house. A late 20th-century single-storey addition now spans between the rear wings.

The exterior presents two storeys with an asymmetrical six-window front. The entrance to the cross passage is positioned left of centre, with a 20th-century thatched porch on posts and a plank-and-stud front door. The windows comprise two- and three-light 19th and 20th-century timber casements and sashes with glazing bars, a late 20th-century bow window to the left of the porch, and a two-light timber mullioned window of circa 1700 with timber stanchions on the first floor, leftmost position.

The interior's major interest lies in the outstanding roof construction, though the ground floor retains considerable interest despite late 20th-century modernisation. The granite ashlar back of the hall stack features a hollow-chamfered cornice and is exposed in the passage, which has chamfered stopped joists. One of the aisle posts from the 14th-century spere truss is exposed but buried within the lower end partition of the passage. The early 17th-century hall contains a chamfered stopped crossbeam and an open fireplace with a granite lintel and monolithic granite jambs; the left-hand jamb has been altered or replaced to provide an opening into a recess, probably originally a smoking chamber but subsequently converted to a bread oven. The inner room has a chamfered stopped crossbeam and a blocked fireplace. The lower end room features rough exposed crossbeams and joists and now extends into the rear left wing.

The roof is remarkable. The 14th-century roof represents base cruck construction with massive arcade plates (no purlins), into which common rafters are notched. The main truss is a face-pegged base cruck with straight rather than arched braces below the collar and straight wind braces. Intermediate ties exist between the main trusses. The spere truss, more clearly visible in the roof space than the main truss, has massive aisle posts (one visible in the cross passage, descending virtually to ground level approximately four feet away from the front wall). Evidence suggests the spere truss was infilled between the straight braces, though the infill may be secondary. The roof formerly extended further to the left, where it has been replaced circa early 16th century by a conventional side-pegged jointed cruck truss over the lower end. The upper tier of the 14th-century roof consists of common rafter couples with lap-jointed collars. The roof construction, lacking a crown post for longitudinal bracing to the upper tier, has caused racking of some common rafters and jointing failure in some main timbers, revealing secret dovetails of very early character. The ties are splayed and tabled into the arcade plates. Smoke-blackened battens and thatch survive throughout, with an unusual arrangement of longitudinal pieces bearing some disused mortises, positioned correspondingly on each side near the later stack, set across two common rafter bays just below collar level, indicating some special arrangement of unknown function.

The rear left wing retains an unusual but probably later medieval roof of an extremely rare Devon design. Three arched brace trusses of slender construction feature clasped diagonally-set purlins and a clasped square-set ridge above a yoke. The lap joints are of early character. The battens and thatch are post-medieval, but the other timbers are smoke-blackened. A comparable roof in Ashburton, Devon, was recorded by Michael Laithwaite prior to demolition in 1970, but no other examples are known in the county. The character of the roof construction suggests this could be the earliest roof in Devon. Interpretation of the roof is by John Thorp.