The original C16 house

The original 16th-century house

This is a former house dating to the 16th century, which was reduced in size and altered to ancillary functions in the late 19th century. Some repairs were carried out in the late 20th century.

Materials and Construction

The building is constructed of render over random sandstone rubble, which is exposed in places, with some cob in the rear wall and brick repairs. The west gable end has a late 20th or early 21st-century full-height timber shiplap screen. The gabled roof, which would originally have been thatched, is now covered with double roman clay tiles of 19th-century date. There is a truncated lateral stack to the front left and a gable-end stack to the right (east); both are external.

Plan and Original Layout

The building is rectangular on plan, originally with a longer footprint but reduced by a third in the late 19th or early 20th century. When first built, it was probably a three-room cross-passage house with two stair turrets (one now partial) to the rear. The rear outshut is probably 18th-century.

Exterior

The building is one and a half storeys and currently of four bays (probably six bays originally), built into a south-facing slope. The front elevation features a lateral external stack that projects forward, positioned adjacent to the current west end of the building. It has been truncated at eaves level and capped with a slight roof extension. To the right is an unglazed opening with 20th-century timber shutters and four- and two-light casement windows. Below the eaves is a similar shuttered opening and a timber, chamfered mullioned window of three lights with two iron stanchions, set in a hollow-chamfered flat-arched frame with later shutters. The east gable end has an external stack and a single-light window with an internal timber shutter. The rear elevation is built mostly of stone rubble, though some cob is present. It has a projecting rectangular stair turret towards the east end and a stone-built outshut with a catslide roof further west. The west wall of the outshut has a two-light timber window with iron rod stanchions. The rear wall of the demolished section survives as a retaining wall, rising to first-floor level, capped in concrete with brick repairs. It contains a semi-circular recess, most probably the remains of a stair turret, and the lower part of a possible window. The current west gable end is a full-height shiplap screen with a 19th-century pegged doorframe with an arched head that appears to have been cut back, and a ledged plank door.

Interior

The building has two surviving ground-floor principal rooms (originally three) and a rear outshut. The east room, latterly a kitchen, contains a fireplace that has been reduced in size with a 19th-century mantle and adjoining bread oven. To the left of the fireplace, set in a high splayed reveal, is a small window with a wooden shutter and strap hinges. Several 19th-century wooden shelves are fixed to the walls, and a brick-infilled doorway is visible in the rear wall, which previously opened onto a stone winder stair (visible at first floor) within a turret. The ceiling beam has hollow-moulded chamfers and stepped run-out stops. A timber-framed partition on a stone plinth separates the east room from the former hall to the west. At its north end is a doorway with a 19th-century ledged plank door and architrave with a step below. The adjacent room (former hall or central room) has a wide lateral fireplace with depressed arch, chamfered stone jambs and chamfered timber lintel. The central ceiling beam has hollow chamfers and stepped run-out stops. Towards the west end of the room is a second hollow-chamfered beam with mortices and evidence for a wide doorway, most probably the top rail for a plank and muntin screen which would once have separated the hall and cross-passage. Two doorways are present in the rear wall. The one to the left has a squared-headed stone surround with chamfered jambs, but the opening was infilled with random rubble when the rear outshut was added. The other doorway has an 18th-century door and opens onto the outshut. A later simple ladder stair leads to the first floor.

The first floor was used for grain storage from the late 19th century, and a number of timber and brick partitions were added to facilitate this. Along the south side is a spine corridor. Three partition walls subdivide the first floor, extending to the undersides of the original roof trusses but slightly later in date. The western partition has plaster to both faces, studs exposed at high level, and 18th and 19th-century plank doors at either end. The central partition has a doorway with chamfered, cambered head with slightly curved sides and traces of possible historic paint; the applied shiplap boarding is at least late 19th-century. The eastern partition has plaster to its east face. Beyond this, the gable wall has a recessed opening, perhaps for a cupboard or garderobe. There is a small niche in the wall adjacent to the stone winder stair, possibly for a light, and towards the top of the stairs is a small lancet in a splayed reveal.

Roof Structure

The 16th-century roof comprises three pairs of jointed crucks, morticed and tenoned at the apex. The high collars are tenoned into the blades, and the soffits of the collars and blades have round holes in them for original partitions. In addition to the cruck frames, there are four pegged principal rafters of late 19th-century date and machine-sawn purlins and rafters.