Lancin Farmhouse

Lancin Farmhouse

This is a Grade II* listed farmhouse of late medieval date with later alterations, located in Wambrook. The building is constructed of chert with some cob, and has a wheat reed thatch roof covered with corrugated iron. The ridge and end chimney stacks are finished in 19th-century brick.

The farmhouse follows a three-unit plan with a through-passage positioned to the left of the central hall. Lean-tos are attached to both gables, and a stair turret projects from the rear (south side). This layout is typical of the "Devon House" sequence of development from open hall houses. The building is two storeys tall and spans five windows. The windows are mostly fitted with timber lintels over 19th and 20th-century casements, though the first floor retains earlier 19th-century glazing bar casements. The main doorway is flanked by 19th-century brick cheeks and features a 17th-century studded door with strap hinges set in a heavy pegged and chamfered frame with a peaked head. A rear doorway to the south of the through-passage has a pegged and chamfered frame with curved and shouldered jambs.

The interior is noted as exceptionally complete and displays the typical "Devon sequence" of development. The late medieval core comprises a three-unit through-passage plan with a central open hall, originally separated by low partitions from a service end to the left and a through-passage and solar end to the right. The upper chamber was originally jettied out over the hall. The heavily smoke-blackened roof shows several construction phases: from left to right, a side-pegged jointed cruck with a cambered collar, trenched purlins and notched apex; a true cruck concealed by an inserted hall stack; a closed cruck with windbracing and wattling set on rafters; and finally a late 16th or early 17th-century collar truss. Chamfered plank and muntin partitions survive at the upper and lower ends, with chamfered arched surrounds to doorways.

The plan and interior were remodelled from the mid-16th to early 17th century. This phase saw the insertion of the hall stack (positioned behind the through-passage), a first-floor room, turret stairs, and the outer room smoke bay. The hall fireplace has chamfered jambs and bressummer with a salt hole moulded mantleshelf. The fireback is dated 1864 and bears the initials "AL" with criss-cross lines on the rear block. The doorway from the through-passage to the hall, positioned to the rear of the stack, has a chamfered arched surround with a shouldered head. The hall beams are deeply chamfered with pyramid stops. An adjacent beam in the outer room has a convex chamfer with step and run-out stop on one side, indicating association with a probable former smoke bay and conversion into a kitchen. The late 16th or early 17th-century phase also included the insertion of an upper floor in the outer room (kitchen), raising of the walls and roof over the high end, and raising of the upper room floor with new beams.

A kitchen fireplace and ovens were inserted in the late 17th century. The kitchen beams are deeply chamfered with step and run-out stops. A chamfered plank and muntin first-floor partition features chamfered arched surrounds to doorways. Several fireplaces are now blocked, but their chamfered bressummers and arched surrounds remain visible. The kitchen fireplace retains its late 17th-century ovens. The interior also includes 16th and 17th-century plank and studded doors with strap hinges.