Yew Tree Farmhouse

Farmhouse. Built around the late 16th or early 17th century, it was extended in the 17th century, remodelled in the 18th century, altered in the 19th century, and further extended in the 20th century. The construction is of coursed lias stone with plain tile roofs and Ham stone coping to the gable ends. Brick axial and gable end stacks are also present.

The original layout was a three-room and through-passage plan. The lower left (west) room had a gable-end fireplace, the hall was heated by a fireplace in an axial stack at the upper end, and the inner room was unheated. A single-room wing was added behind the low end of the house in the 17th century, initially unheated and possibly used as a dairy. In the 18th century, a partition was installed at the back of the hall to create an axial passage, the eaves were raised, and the roof was rebuilt. Around the late 19th or early 20th century, an outshut was built at the rear of the main range.

The south front has an asymmetrical appearance with four windows. It features 2-light casement windows with small panes of glass, with the ground floor window on the left side having been replaced. A doorway is located to the left of the centre, featuring a 19th-century fielded panel door and a simple wooden lattice porch. A large red brick stack with set-offs is found on the left (west) gable end. The rear wing has casement windows with small panes of glass. At the rear north side, a wing is positioned on the right and an outshut extends behind the main range.

The kitchen in the rear wing has deeply chamfered cross-beams with hollow step stops, a large fireplace with a similarly stopped and chamfered bressumer and oven. The kitchen in the main range (left west room) has a deeply chamfered cross-beam with run-out stops and a fireplace blocked by a 20th-century chimneypiece. The through-passage has matchboard panelling at the lower level and fielded panel doors. The hall (centre room) has a framed ceiling (now plastered over) with deeply chamfered beams, a Victorian slate chimneypiece with a marble inlay and tiled grate. The inner right (east) room has a deeply chamfered axial beam with step stops and a stone flag floor. Stone winder stairs are located at the upper (east) end and from the kitchen in the rear wing. Other doors are plank and fielded panel. The roof structure is intact, featuring tie-beam and lapped collar trusses, two tiers of tenoned purlins, a diagonal ridgepiece, and common rafters.

This is a good example of a traditional Somerset farmhouse, dating to the late 16th or early 17th century, and which was substantially remodelled in the 18th century.