Pale Farmhouse

Pale Farmhouse, Christow Dry Lane, Christow

Pale Farmhouse is a farmhouse of late medieval origins, substantially remodelled in the late 16th and early 17th centuries in two phases, with a barn at the right end converted to domestic use in the late 20th century. The building is Grade II listed.

The exterior is constructed of colourwashed, rendered cob and stone, with a bitumen-painted slate roof (formerly thatched) and gables at both ends. There are three chimney stacks: a projecting stack at the left end with rendered shaft, an axial stack with rendered granite shaft, and a stack to the front of the ridge at the right end heating the converted barn.

The building is two storeys with an asymmetrical five-window front. A 19th-century half-glazed front door opens to the through passage, positioned left of centre with a 20th-century gabled porch. Windows are mostly 2- and 3-light timber casements with glazing bars, except for one 4-light window to the right of the porch featuring internal timber mullions.

The plan develops from a late medieval open hall house, remodelled as a 3-room and through-passage plan in the late 16th and 17th centuries. The lower end is positioned to the left, with the hall stack backing onto the passage. Both ends appear to have been floored before the hall, and the chamber over the inner room jetties into the hall space.

The interior preserves impressive 16th and 17th-century features. The granite ashlar back of the hall stack, with plinth and cornice, is visible in the passage, which retains exposed joists. A piece of 19th-century painted glass bearing armorial bearings, said to be those of the Archer family, has been repositioned in the passage after discovery behind panelling.

The hall contains a good open fireplace with granite jambs and lintel. A chamfered step-stopped crossbeam with scratch-moulded joists spans the space, and a higher end jetty features a moulded jetty beam. A trimmer beam in front of the fireplace divides the ceiling into two sections: one with plain joists adjacent to the fireplace lintel, the other with scratch-moulded joists. A notable oak plank and muntin screen at the higher end has chamfered muntins stopped off at hall bench level. A cobbled floor is said to survive beneath the present hall floor.

The lower end, to the left, contains a large chamfered axial beam mortised into a deeply chamfered half-beam against the partition wall with the passage. A separate half-beam to the rear may indicate the position of a former stair. A 20th-century fireplace is said to conceal a larger fireplace with a damaged timber lintel.

On the first floor, closed partitions rise above the lower end/passage partition and the inner room/hall jetty. The left end first floor room incorporates a fine and unusual first floor plank and muntin screen with chamfered muntins and an original doorframe. The inner room was not inspected at the time of survey.

The roof apex was not inspected, but a side-pegged jointed cruck truss survives over the hall, positioned close to the inserted hall stack. Smoke-blackening is said to be visible at the apex, and the roof timbers are likely to be of special interest.

Pale Farmhouse is said to have been the home of the Archer family since the 12th century. The building possesses group value with Pitt, Wells and Strongs Cottage.