Description

CLYST ST LAWRENCE
ST 00 SW
2/49 Town Farmhouse
GV II

Farmhouse. Early - mid C16 with later C16 and C17 improvements including a mid C17
kitchen wing; the house was refurbished in the mid - late C19. Plastered cob on
stone rubble footings; cob and stone rubble stacks topped with C19 brick; thatch
roof.
Plan and development: T-plan house. The main block faces south-south-east, say
south, and is built down a gentle hillslope. Uphill at the right (west) end is an
inner room parlour with a gable-end stack. The hall has an axial stack backing onto
the passage. The other side of the passage is a lower end parlour with a gable-end
stack. A 2-room plan rear block projects at right angles behind the hall and it
contains a kitchen with a gable-end stack behind an unheated dairy. There is a
stair turret in the angle of the 2 wings alongside the passage rear doorway. In the
C19 the stair was enlarged at the expense of the hall.
The house was thoroughly modernised in the mid - late C19 but apparently
superficially since the original plan appears to be well-preserved. However much of
the C16 and C17 fabric is hidden behind C19 plaster. Also much of the roof
structure over the main block was renewed in the C19. Therefore it is difficult to
assess the development of the house in detail. Nevertheless it seems likely that
the early - mid C16 house was some form of open hall house and was probably heated
by an open hearth fire. The house was progressively floored over and the
chimneystacks were inserted between the mid C16 and mid C17. The lower end room was
apparently refurbished as a parlour in the late C16 - early C17. The rear kitchen
block was built in the mid C17. The inner room parlour maybe a C19 creation and the
stack there might have been built then but it is not possible to be certain.
The house is 2 storeys.
Exterior: regular but not symmetrical 4-window front of C19 casements with glazing
bars. The passage front doorway is left of centre and it contains a C19 4-panel
door containing C19 patterned glass and behind a contemporary gabled porch. The
roof is gable-ended. The rear block includes a couple of C17 oak-framed windows on
the west side and close to the junction with the main block. The ground floor
window is late C17, 5 lights with flat-faced mullions (inside the lintel is propped
by a timber spoke from an old wagon wheel). The first floor window is mid C17, 4
lights with ovolo-moulded mullions.
Interior: is mostly the result of the C19 modernisation and therefore much of the
C16 and C17 fabric is hidden. Nevertheless the plan and the few features which are
exposed suggest that the early house is well-preserved. In the hall and inner room
no carpentry is exposed and the fireplaces are blocked. However the farmer reports
that an oak plank-and-muntin screen was exposed during replastering work between the
hall and inner room. Another is suspected along the lower side of the passage. The
lower end parlour crossbeam is late C16 - early C17; it has deep hollow chamfers
with pyramid stops. The fireplace here is blocked. The main block roof structure
is mostly C19 although some smoke-blackened timbers from the early - mid C16 roof
are reused and there is a clean collarless side-pegged jointed cruck over the lower
end parlour; it is probably late C16 - early C17. The rear block is mid C17. The
dairy has a plain chamfered crossbeam and the kitchen has a chamfered and step-
stopped crossbeam. The large kitchen fireplace is partly blocked and now lined with
C19 brick but its chamfered oak lintel is exposed and it continues over a cupboard
alongside to right which was originally a walk-in curing chamber. The original C17
roof remains and is carried on A-frame trusses with pegged dovetail-shaped lap-
jointed collars. The joinery detail throughout the house is C19.
This is an attractive multi-phase Devon farmhouse. Great care should be taken during
any modernisation work here lest C16 or C17 features be disturbed. However the mid
- late C19 modernisation is an important phase in the development of the house and
should be respected.

Listing NGR: ST0281800052

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26596233

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

• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Harrow on the Hill: A photographic portrayal of listed buildings and structures (Historic Buildings Picture Guides)
• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gloucestershire 1: The Cotswolds: Cotswolds Pt. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Listed Buildings and Other Heritage Assets
• 
  Nottinghamshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)