Cressen Hayes And Little Cressen Hayes

Cressen Hayes and Little Cressen Hayes

This is an early 16th-century house of higher status than a typical farmhouse, located at Lower Town in Widecombe-in-the-Moor. The north end has been divided off as a separate cottage. The building is constructed of granite rubble, with the west gable-wall of the wing covered with roughcast. The roof is covered with real slates, except for the north end of the main range which has asbestos slates; the south end of the main range is hipped. There are three large stone chimneys on the main range: a plain stack with slate weatherings on the north gable, a better-quality stack with granite weatherings and tapered top in the centre of the ridge (which heated a former hall), and a rendered stack of probably 19th-century date on the west wall at the south end. The west gable of the wing has a plain stone stack with slate weatherings. The building has undergone minor 19th and 20th-century additions on the east and west sides, and the upper (south) end of the main range was rebuilt in the 19th century.

The plan is unusual, with a long inner room at the south end now reduced in size to insert an entrance-lobby next to the hall. A lower room at the north end had a fireplace but does not appear to have been a kitchen, as it has no oven. Even the oven in the hall fireplace looks like a later insertion, suggesting the house may originally have had a detached kitchen. A wing on the west side, at right-angles to the hall and inner room, appears contemporary with the main range, though its outer walls could be the remnant of an earlier structure. The ground-storey room of the wing was clearly a parlour.

The building is two storeys; the additions are single-storeyed. The main range has a 7-window front to the east. The original doorway, off-centre to the right, has a chamfered granite surround with a shallow segmental arch. The hall has a 3-light granite window, original except for the mullions; the lights are recessed within a moulded rectangular frame with hollow-moulded, almost rounded arches and sunk spandrels. Above it and to the right in the second storey are two original single-light windows with hollow-moulded granite surrounds, the larger left-hand window having a very slightly rounded head. The remaining windows at the hall and inner room end have 19th-century wooden casements with glazing-bars, except for a 20th-century window at the left end of the ground storey. To the right of this is another doorway, probably a 19th-century insertion. The lower end has been largely rebuilt, rather clumsily, following a collapse; these windows have 20th-century metal casements. Against its right-hand end is an added stone lean-to, now belonging to the adjoining house. On the west side the through-passage doorway has an original granite surround matching that on the east side. Above it and to the right, next to the wing, is a single-light original window with chamfered granite surround and very slightly rounded head. At the extreme left-hand end (to the north) the wall has been built out slightly, probably to insert a staircase. Against the west gable-wall of the wing is a double flight of granite steps, probably added in the 19th century; they formerly led to a second-storey doorway, now blocked and converted into a window.

Interior features include the following. The hall has chamfered upper-floor beams with step-stops, the joists having bar-stops. The half-beam at the upper (south) end has substantial remains of painting, probably of 16th-century date, depicting a design of scrolls and foliage; it was apparently white on black originally, but a light red undercoat now predominates. At the opposite end of the room the fireplace has hollow-moulded granite jambs and lintel; at the back is an oven with a stone-framed opening, probably a later insertion. The upper floor joists over the through-passage have been mutilated to insert a staircase; those that survive match the joists in the hall. In the stone south wall is the former doorway into the hall, now blocked; it has a chamfered and stopped wood lintel. The north wall is also of stone, but only on the ground storey; the upper storey has been remodelled in the 20th century. At the east end is a large opening, partly blocked with stone, having a chamfered and stopped wood lintel; beneath it is a pair of cranked wooden door-heads. The lower room to the north of this has chamfered upper-floor beams and joists with step-stops. Some of the joists are clearly re-used, being either plain, or chamfered with diagonal-cut stops. The large gable-fireplace has an apparently re-used chamfered wood lintel. To the left of it was formerly a stone staircase, probably a later insertion. The fireplace appears to be an original feature, as it has a step-stopped half-beam against it.

The wing has moulded upper-floor beams and joists; these have some irregular features, but are almost certainly in their original position. The beams have two three-quarter-round mouldings with a hollow between them, while the joists have one three-quarter-round and an ogee; both beams and joists have run-out stops. The gable-fireplace has a hollow-moulded granite lintel and left jamb; the right jamb has been replaced by a short projecting wall, probably dating from when the room was used as a carpenter's shop. On the left side of the fireplace is an original staircase with winding stone steps. In the opposite (east) wall is a blocked doorway, formerly leading into the hall, with a chamfered wood lintel having step-stops. In the north wall is a blocked window with splayed jambs; flanking it internally are two pieces of moulded stone, possibly re-used, that do not rise the full height of the window.

The upper storey has no exposed features except for the feet of the roof-trusses. The original trusses survive complete over the wing but are missing at either end of the main range. They are closely similar jointed crucks, side-pegged and with threaded purlins but no ridge; the wing trusses have lost their collars, but at least one cambered collar remains in the main range. All the trusses are unblackened.

Local tradition says the house was built for the priest of St Leonard's Chapel, Spitchwick, but there appears to be no evidence of this, or even that the chapel still existed in the early 16th century.