Coxtor Farmhouse and Farm Buildings Around Yard Immediately to East

Coxtor Farmhouse and Farm Buildings Around Yard Immediately to East, Peter Tavy

Farmhouse dating from the early 16th century with late 16th or early 17th century modifications and later 19th century alterations. Stone rubble walls are rendered at the front. The roof is gable-ended with slate tiles and decorative 19th century ridge tiles. There are three rendered stacks: one at the right gable end and two axial, with the left-hand one positioned at the break in the roof-line over the left-hand end.

The original house plan is not entirely clear due to truncation at the lower left end, but it was likely either a longhouse or a three-room dwelling with a cross-passage, of which the lower left end beyond the passage has been rebuilt. The hall was probably originally open to the roof with a central hearth, though there is no evidence whether the inner room and lower end were similarly open. A high-quality modernisation occurred in the late 16th or early 17th century when a hall fireplace was inserted backing onto the passage and the hall was ceiled. At this stage, newel stairs may have been sited in a projection at the rear of the hall stack. Later in the 17th century, they were repositioned at the rear of the higher end of the hall in a larger projection. The 19th century saw the lower end rebuilt as inferior service rooms. The farm buildings in front of the house, arranged around a yard and probably dating to the 17th century, may have been integral to the house's remodelling, providing valuable shelter on its exposed eastern side.

The exterior presents two storeys with an asymmetrical four-window front of later 20th century aluminium windows. A gabled single-storey porch towards the left end features early 17th century chamfered granite three-centred arched outer and inner doorways. To the left of the porch, the house has been rebuilt with a lower roof-line. At the rear, the house is built into the hillside with only one window at the right-hand end, which has a granite mullion frame. Several projections exist on the rear wall, the largest being rectangular towards the left-hand end, with a curved section of wall to the right containing a blocked granite-framed light. The other main projection is to the right behind the hall stack and is shallower.

Internally, over the hall one original roof truss survives, comprising substantial principal rafters with slightly curved feet, threaded purlins and morticed cranked collar chamfered on the top and soffit. The truss has a morticed apex which originally had a diagonal ridge. Although the truss has been cleaned at some stage, it appears considerably darkened in places, suggesting smoke-blackening from a central hearth. Vestigial remains of another early truss exist at the higher end, but the house was otherwise completely re-roofed in the 20th century.

The other surviving old features, concentrated in the hall, are of remarkably high quality. A chamfered granite segmental-headed doorway leads from the passage to the hall. The hall fireplace has a roll-moulded granite frame with straight lintel and an 18th century wooden cornice above. To its right is a narrow granite-framed opening of unclear original purpose, though a newel stair may have been sited there. The hall ceiling is of extremely high quality for a West Devon farmhouse, featuring cross beams which are hollow, roll and hollow moulded. The joists on the central and higher section of the ceiling are similarly decorated, while those in the lower end section are chamfered, as is the half beam over the fireplace. All have hollow step stops. Another notable feature is a built-in bench with ornate panelled and carved back against the higher end wall, featuring an ornate frieze and cornice incorporating the date 1650 and the initials SK. The panelling and carving are reputed to have come from elsewhere. A rare survival is the bench-end with two scroll-shaped finials.

Immediately to the east of the farmhouse, farm buildings form three sides of a courtyard to which the house forms the fourth side. These buildings are probably 17th century in origin, of stone rubble construction, though they now reveal no early features. At the south-west corner of the yard is a covered entrance way.

Despite considerable alteration and with early features concentrated in one part, this house is a particularly interesting moorland farmhouse of high quality, indicating it must have been of some importance in the 16th and 17th centuries.