Description

CHRISTOW FOXHOLE HILL (off), Christow SX 88 NW 2/112 Southwood Farmhouse GV II Farmhouse. Late medieval origins, remodelled and extended in the C17, datestone of 1742 on front ; rear lean-to probably C19, extended by a C20 conservatory. Rendered cob on stone rubble footings; thatched roof, half-hipped at left end, gabled at right end, rear wing half-hipped at end ; projecting right end stack, axial stack, both with rendered shafts. Plan: 2 room and through passage plan with a rear right wing forming an overall L. Originally an open hall house (apex of roof not inspected but said to be sooted from end to end) presumably divided by low screens. When the house was floored, probably in the late C16/C17 the hall stack was added, backing on to the passage creating a hall/kitchen at the higher end and the lower end was remodelled as a parlour. The rear right wing may have been added at the same date providing 2 ground floor service rooms with accommodation over. The rear lean-to with a corrugated iron roof, now a kitchen, was probably a C19 dairy addition. Exterior: 2 storeys. Asymmetrical 3 window front, the eaves thatch gabled over 3 first floor late C18 or C19 2-light casements with glazing bars, 4 similar ground floor windows. Good probably C17 chamfered square-headed oak doorframe to front door to passage to right of centre, C19 plank front door. Nowy headed plaster frame to date of 1742 with initials GB above front door. The rear wing has a first floor 3- light C17 timber mullioned window in the end wall, the mullions chamfered on the inside; smaller 2-light timber mullioned window to first floor on inner return wall of wing. Interior: Good survival of C16 and C17 carpentry and other features. Late medieval rear oak doorframe to through passage with a shouldered arch, chamfered jambs and lintel and a massive plank and stud door. The ashlar granite of the rear of the hall/kitchen stack is exposed in the passage with a granite cornice and a short section of plank and muntin screen forms the remainder of the hall/cross passage partition. The partition to the lower end room is incomplete but has chamfered muntins with pyramid stops on the passage side. The hall has chamfered stopped crossbeams and an open fireplace with granite monolith jambs, a chamfered lintel and a bread oven : a straight stair rises against the rear wall of the hall. The lower end room has an open fireplace with rounded jambs and a timber lintel ; a chamferd stopped crossbeam and chamfered stopped joists. The first floor retains some early plaster and a square-leaded doorframe and C17 plank door. Roof: No access to apex of roof at time of survey (1987) but side pegged jointed crucks with cambered collars mortised into the principals are visible on the first floor and sooted thatch was discovered from end to end of the main block when the house was re-thatched and some rafters to the front of the ridge replaced (information from owner). The rear wing appears to have trusses with straight principal rafters. Group value with 3 C17 farmbuildings.

Listing NGR: SX8347586086

External Links

• Wikidata Q26390038

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Recommended Books

• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Leeds, Bradford and the North (Pevsner Architectural Guides / Buildings of England)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)