Description

PLYMTREE PLYMTREE
ST 00 SE
3/155 Barns approximately 3 metres north
of Pencepool Farmhouse
6.10.87
GV II

Double barn. C16, C17 and C18. The walls are of various materials, the oldest
section is of dressed blocks of hard local sandstone laid to courses and with larger
quoins, the rest is cob on stone rubble footings patched with brick and C20 concrete
blocks; roof of corrugated iron and corrugated asbestos, formerly thatch.
Plan: long building, now 2 blocks, built along the road and facing onto it to
north-west. The longer block to left (north-east) is 2 barns built end to end.
Each has opposing central doorways onto the threshing floors. To right is a smaller
block with hayloft. The 2 blocks are separated by a carriageway into the farmyard
behind. This was until recently roofed over. The right barn is the oldest,
probably C16. The carriageway and right end block might be contemporary; if not
they are late C16 - early C17. The left end barn is probably late C17 or early C18
but its roof was replaced in the C20. This barn was used as a cider house in the
C19 and C20.
Exterior: the left end barn is exposed cob on stone rubble footings but the centre
section of the front, which includes large double doors, is rebuilt with late C19 -
early C20 brick. The right barn is coursed masonry and its full height central
doorway is flanked by short projecting midstrey walls. The double doors are C19.
The block at the right end is plastered cob on stone rubble footings patched with
C19 brick. It contains a small ground floor window and larger first floor window,
the latter probably adapted from a hayloft loading hatch. The roofs are gable-
ended.
Interior: the left end barn is open to the roof, the structure of which was
replaced in the C20. This barn contains a C19 cider press. The right barn is also
open to the 2-bay roof. The central truss is a jointed cruck held together by a
pair of pegged slip tenons. Stylistically this is supposed to be an early form.
Here it is thought to be C16 but could be earlier. There is a solid wall between
the 2 barns but not either side of the carriageway. It is open and flanked by side-
pegged jointed cruck trusses. Another 2 similar trusses carry the roof over the
right block wnich is also open ended. The barn side of the carriageway is lined
with a reused oak plank-and-muntin screen containing a crank-headed doorway but it
has been erected here upside down.
These farmbuildings form part of an attractive group both immediately with nearby
Pencepool Farmhouse (q.v) and its front garden wall (q.v) and generally with other
traditional Devon houses that make up the village of Plymtree. Moreover the right
Darn and right end block are early example of farmbuildings for Devon.

Listing NGR: ST0526103162

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26618452

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

• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Period property manual, victorian house manual 2 books collection set by ian rock
• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  London 4: North: North v. 4 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Farrow & Ball How to Decorate: Transform your home with paint & paper