Waye Farmhouse

Farmhouse. Dating from the 16th century, with improvements in the 17th century, it was largely rebuilt and rearranged in the mid- to late 19th century. The farmhouse is constructed of plastered granite stone rubble, with granite stacks topped with plastered 19th or 20th century brick, and a thatched roof at one end, with slate at the other. It appears the original house had a 3-room-and-through-passage plan built down a hillslope facing south and may have been a Dartmoor longhouse. The hall was open to the roof and originally heated by an open hearth fire; it has an axial stack backed onto the site of the former passage. The inner room at the uphill left end was rebuilt or rearranged in the mid- to late 19th century, creating an entrance hall with staircase and a parlour with a gable end stack. The service end was also rebuilt at the same time as kitchen with a gable end stack, and there is an outshot at the right end. A dairy outshot to the rear of the hall was rebuilt as the present kitchen around 1970, and a 19th-century woodshed stands in front of the kitchen. The two-storey house has an irregular 4-window front, with the left 3-window section being symmetrical around the main doorway. There are two 19th-century 16-pane sashes on the first floor, but most windows are now 20th-century casements without glazing bars. The main doorway is set behind a contemporary porch with a 20th-century part-glazed door. The roof is gable-ended. The early work is largely confined to the hall, which contains a large 16th to early 17th century granite ashlar fireplace with a hollow-chamfered surround, and a likely early 17th century ceiling with a crossbeam featuring a soffit-chamfered profile with run-out stops. A pear wall contains an alcove, likely the blocked doorway of a former newel stair, and a vertical timber, probably the foot of an original cruck truss. The roof was raised in the 19th century and subsequently rebuilt, incorporating smoke-blackened timbers and one reused truss, now an A-frame with its cruck feet cut off. While the rest of the house’s features are 19th century, the jambs of the parlour fireplace are hollow-chamfered, potentially indicating a 17th-century fireplace.