Description

BRAMPFORD SPEKE
SX 99 NW
3/14
Taylor's Farmhouse
11.11.52
- II
Large farmhouse (the main range 33 metres long). Early C16, or earlier, with C17
alterations and additions. Cob, rendered, on stone plinth, with hipped thatched
roof. Given the extreme length of the left-hand room relative to the rest of the
house, and the unfinished character of the beams in that room, Taylor's may well
have been originally a longhouse, with the shippon to the left of the through
passage, the hall and other higher-end rooms, under a taller roof-ridge line to the
right, and with a C17 back wing, possibly a kitchen extension. 2 axial stacks,
one left-hand external end stack, and an internal lateral stack to the rear wing.
2 storeys throughout. Front: main doorway lies left of centre, with 3 windows on
the left to each storey, three to the right at ground-floor level and four above.
All upper floor windows are set high, 6 under eyebrow eaves. Casements replaced
except for 1st floor window, which is of 4 lights with oval moulded jambs and
mullions. To the rear, a newel stair-turret occupies the corner formed by the wing
and the main range. The lower-end rear elevation has a pantiled lean-to along its
full extent. Left-hand room (possibly the shippon before conversion) with 5 heavy
beams, all rough and unshaped. Through passage with concealed lath and plaster
screens. Lath and plaster partitions also between main rooms at higher-end and a
rear corridor, fireplace (altered) backing onto passage with site of former oven
and smoking chamber now forming a 3.3 metre blocked space. Right-hand rooms with
heavily chamfered beams, one (in extreme right-hand end room) with central support
and mortices indicating a former partition. Between the two axial stacks are three
jointed crucks (two revealed, one ceiled), side-pegged, and these together with the
raised 1st floor level at this point mark the position of the original open hall.
(Roof ceiled and not accessible). Hall and lower-end also with rafters and bench
purlins. Back wing ground-floor room with 3 heavily-chamfered beams and an
unchamfered fireplace lintel.

Listing NGR: SX9258798517

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26389857

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

• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]
• 
  Yorkshire: York and the East Riding (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Surrey (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)