Description

DUNKESWELL DUNKESWELL
ST 10 NW
5/24 Bramble Cottage and Middle Tencery
(formerly listed as Tencery
16.5.74 Farmhouse)
GV II
2 cottages, formerly a single farmhouse. Early C17, parts renovated in the mid to
late C19, modernised and subdivided circa 1980. Local stone rubble with some C19
brick dressings; stone rubble stacks with C19 and C20 brick chimneyshafts (one of
them plastered); thatch roof.
Plan and development: a pair of cottages facing south-west and built down the
hillslope. Middle Tencery is the cottage uphill at the left (north-west) end. It
has a 2-room plan and the larger right room is heated by an axial stack backing onto
Bramble Cottage. Circa 1980 the partition between the 2 rooms was removed and they
were united. Entrance to rear of the right room. Bramble Cottage is downhill at
the right end and it has a through-passage next to Middle Tencery and single room
with a projecting gable-end stack.
The 2 cottages have been made by subdivding a C16 or early C17 3-room-and-through-
passage farmhouse. Middle Tencery occupies the former hall and unheated inner room
and Bramble Cottage occupies the passage and former service end kitchen. Since the
roof has apparently been replaced there is no evidence to be seen of any C16 work.
What shows seems to suggest a single phase early C17 house with the hall floored
over from the beginning. The roof was replaced in the mid - late C19 and there were
some alterations associated with the subdivision of the farmhouse circa 1980.
The cottages are 2 storeys with secondary lean-to outshots to rear.
Exterior: overall irregular 3-window front of C20 casements with glazing bars; the
2 left ground floor windows have flat brick arches over. The passage front doorway
(to Bramble Cottage) is right of centre and contains a C20 plank door. The roof is
gable-ended.
Interior: the fireplaces and carpentry detail on the ground floor of both cottages
are early C17. In Middle Tencery an oak plank-and-muntin screen was removed from
between the 2-rooms but its headbeam remains and below it has been set an early Cl7
oak window frame with ovolo-moulded mullions. The former hall crossbeam is
chamfered with unusual triple-step stops. The fireplace here is sandstone ashlar
with an oak lintel the soffit of which is raised with rounded corners and it has an
ogee-fillet moulded surround. In Bramble Cottage the former service end kitchen has
similar but plainer detail. The axial beam is chamfered with step stops and the
fireplace is a larger version of the hall fireplace but with a chamfered oak lintel.
The roof is carried on C19 A-frame trusses with bolted lap-jointed collars. Only
the roofspace over Bramble Cottage was available for inspection at the time of this
survey.
Bramble Cottage and Middle Tencery form part of a group of attractive traditional
thatch-roofed houses in the vicinity of the Church of St Nicholas (q.v).

Listing NGR: ST1418307814

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26390447

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

• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
• 
  London 1: The City of London: City of London v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)