Description

CHRISTOW DRY LANE, Christow
SX 35 NW
2/106 Sea Hill
11.11.52
GV II*
Former farmhouse. Late medieval with circa early C17 remodelling and some C20
alterations. Rendered cob and stone rubble room, over porch timber-framed; slate
roof (formerly thatched), gabled at ends ; projecting granite ashlar front lateral
stack with granite ashlar shaft.
Plan: The main block is a 3-room and through passage arrangement lower end (with C20
subdivisions) to the right, open porch with projecting room over. A rear right wing
at right angles to the lower end is a converted farmbuilding, possibly a shippon.
The house adjoins Arran Cottage at the right end. Originally an open hall house, the
lower end probably always floored but the hall and inner room open to the roof
timbers, the inner room floored first with a very deep jetty projecting into the hall
stack possibly added before the hall was floored. There are some unusual features to
the building : there is no main truss over the hall but framed partitions above the
inner room jetty and hall/passage partition. Both framed partitions appear to be
sooted on the hall side ; sooted rafters over the inner room indicate that the closed
partition here is a secondary feature. The position or the C17 kitchen is not clear;
there is no evidence that either the inner of lower end rooms were ever heated but
the quality of C17 carpentry in the hall suggests that it did not function as a
kitchen at that date.
Exterior: 2 storeys. Asymmetrical 3 window front, porch to passage to right of
centre formed by a projecting gabled first floor room carried on granite monoliths ;
lateral stack with rounded bread oven heating hall to left of porch. 2 C20 timber
ground floor windows to left of stack, I to right of porch ; first floor window to
left of stack, one to right of porch, one to porch room. Re-sited 2-light mullioned
window with cranked heads to the lights on the outer wall of the rear right wing.
Interior: High quality carpentry and joinery of the C16 and Cl7. 3 plank and muntin
screens : the screen between passage and lower end said to have been introduced from
another house in the parish (Laithwaite) with the doorway altered, the passage/hall
screen with diagonal-cut stops and the remains of a doorframe with a cranked lintel.
Fine hall, the fireplace with granite jambs and lintel, with a relieving arch of
well-cut masonry visible in the room above suggesting that the stack may have been
added before the hall was floored ; chamfered stopped axial beam and exposed scratch-
moulded joists. The screen at the higher end has chamfered muntins stopped off at
hall bench level and is over-sailed by a deep jetty which is separately joisted with
chamfered joists.Michael Laithwaite has noted evidence of a sawn-off jetty at the
lower end of the hall. The narrow, unheated inner room formerly had a rear doorway,
replaced by a window in the C20 and had a stair in the rear left corner (information
from owner). The lower end, also narrow and unheated has been subdivided and
includes a C20 stair rising from the passage replacing a similar stair further to the
rear. At one time there was internal access between the lower end and Arran
Cottage. Framed partitions flank the room over the hall with a doorway inserted in
the partition above the inner room jetty. Door with rounded head inserted at lower
end of hall on first floor (Laithwaite).
Roof: full length not accessible at time of survey (1987). The ridge of the medieval
roof (below a later roof) has been sawn off to the lower (right) side of the lower
end framed partition which is sooted on the hall side with no convincing smoke-
staining on the lower end side, or the right end wall in which the foot of a hip
cruck remains embedded. Above the hall the rafters, pegged over the diagonally-set
ridge, are sooted and sooted rafters also survive over the inner room, beyond the
left hand framed partition.
A fine house of medieval origins with good interior features : the front lateral
stack is an uncommon feature of Dartmoor farmhouses (Laithwaite).
Laithwa'te, M. Unpublished notes on Sea Hill.

Listing NGR: SX8308485438

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17535030

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Harrow on the Hill: A photographic portrayal of listed buildings and structures (Historic Buildings Picture Guides)
• 
  Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Cornwall (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Worcestershire Revised Edition (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)