Prescot

House at Prescot, Leigh Street, Leigh-on-Mendip

A house of late 15th or early 16th-century origin, modernised in the early 17th century, with alterations and minor extensions from the 19th and 20th centuries. The building is constructed of random rubble walls, with the left-hand part rendered and 20th-century rear outshuts of rendered blockwork. The right-hand section has a plain clay tile roof, while the left-hand part is covered with corrugated asbestos. A 19th-century rear lean-to has a pantile roof, and other outshuts are roofed with corrugated sheets. Two brick axial stacks are present, one at the centre and another to the left-hand side of the cross-wing.

The original plan consists of a hall with a through passage and a two-room cross-wing to the left, apparently contemporary with the main structure. The hall was originally open to the roof with a central hearth. An original closed truss on the upper side of the passage suggests the cross-wing was two storeys from the outset, with a front and rear room, both heated. In the early 17th century, a hall stack was inserted backing onto the passage, and this end of the house was floored. A very narrow room is subdivided from the right-hand end of the hall; it is unclear whether this is an original feature or was created when the house was divided into two cottages, probably in the 19th century. A lean-to was added at the rear of the passage around the early 17th century, and further outshuts were constructed at the rear in the 20th century. The eaves were raised and a new roof was installed in the 20th century.

The exterior presents an asymmetrical two-storey facade with a large cross-wing projecting slightly to the left. The doorway to the through passage adjoins the cross-wing and is fronted by a 20th-century lean-to porch with a four-panelled part-glazed door. To the right of the porch on the ground floor is a 17th-century three-light stone mullion window with ovolo moulding. Above it is a two-light 19th-century small-paned wood casement. Further right on the ground floor is a 19th-century plank door. The cross-wing displays a large three-light metal casement window on each floor, dating to the 20th century. The rear elevation has the cross-wing projecting slightly from the right-hand side, with a 19th-century lean-to in front and ramshackle 20th-century outshuts to the left. On the ground floor of the main range is an 18th-century two-light square-section stone mullion window. Two circa early 20th-century two-light wooden casements are positioned above. A 20th-century corrugated iron lean-to stands at the left-hand end.

The interior is of considerable interest. The passage contains a 17th-century post and panel screen on the left-hand side with chamfered surrounds to the panels and a four-centred arch above the doorway into the front room of the cross-wing. The doorway to the room behind has been altered but appears to have been similar. At the rear of the passage is the original stone arched doorway with a two-centred head. The front room of the cross-wing features one richly moulded ceiling beam along its front wall, with others possibly concealed above the modern ceiling. A 20th-century grate in the corner may conceal an older fireplace. The room behind it has a partially blocked fireplace with a rough stone surround and a wooden spiral staircase beside it. To the right of the passage, a wooden four-centred arch leads into the original hall. This space contains a large stone-framed fireplace elaborately moulded, with a chamfered and stopped ceiling beam above it.

One medieval roof truss survives with associated timbers. It is a closed truss of unusual cruck form located immediately above the passage screen, probably with a timber-framed partition between. No joint is visible in the cruck blades until the level of the top purlin, where the principals terminate and are crudely jointed into a light superstructure supporting the ridge. The collar is morticed in lower down. Two purlins survive on the front slope, together with a few common rafters. The truss is infilled with wattle and daub, both the filling and surviving timbers being smoke-blackened. The roof over the remainder of the hall range has been raised and renewed, extending some way over the cross-wing as well, though full inspection was not possible and older timbers may survive there.

This is an unusual survival in the area of a late medieval house with an interesting plan form and a number of good quality features from several periods. It has escaped late 20th-century modernisation, and further features probably exist which are presently concealed.