Description

PAYHEMBURY LOWER TALE
ST 00 SE
3/99 Richards Farmhouse
-
GV II

Farmhouse. Early - mid C16 with major later C16 and C17 improvements, some late C19
alterations. Plastered cob on stone rubble footings, the rear block is partly
rebuilt in C19 brick; slate roof, formerly thatch.
Plan: L-plan farmhouse. The main block faces north-east. It has a 3-room-and-
through-passage plan. At the right (north-west) end is an inner room parlour with a
gable-end stack. Next to it is the hall with an axial stack backing onto the
passage. At the left (south-west) end is a small unheated service room, probably a
dairy or buttery originally. A kitchen block projects at right angles to rear of
the left end and overlaps the rear of the passage. It has a gable-end stack.
The main block roof is not the original and therefore it is not possible to
determine the early structural history of the place. Nevertheless it seems likely
that the house began as some type of open hall house, maybe heated by an open hearth
fire. The hall fireplace was probably inserted in the mid or late C16 and the room
was floored over in the early or mid C17. The inner room was refurbished or rebuilt
as a parlour about the same time. The kitchen block is also early or mid C17.
House is 2 storeys with secondary service outshots to rear of the hall and parlour.
Exterior: irregular 3-window front of late C19 and C20 casesments with glazing
bars. The passage front doorway is left of centre. It is flanked by sloping brick
buttresses and contains a late Cl9 part-glazed panelled-door. The roof is gable-
ended.
Interior: the lower (service room) side of the passage is lined with an oak plank-
and-muntin screen, maybe an original low partition screen. The timbers are of large
scantling and the screen contains a large Tudor arch doorway, chamfered with
diagonal cut stops. The hall fireplace has panelled Beerstone ashlar jambs and a
chamfered oak lintel. It contains an inserted cloam oven. Both hall and parlour
have chamfered crossbeams. The crosswall between these rooms is another oak plank-
and-muntin screen, exposed only on the parlour side. The parlour fireplace is
plastered with a chamfered and scroll-stopped oak lintel. Alongside the fireplace
is an C18 cupboard with shaped shelves. The rear block kitchen fireplace is blocked
although its chamfered and step-stopped oak lintel is exposed. The plain crossbeam
here is probably a replacement. The roof over the main house is carried on C18 or
C19 A-frame trusses but the kitchen block roof is carried on C17 side-pegged jointed
cruck trusses.

Listing NGR: ST0677501852

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26456007

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.

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