Description

The following building shall be upgraded to Grade II*:-

ST 20 NE CHARDSTOCK LOWER RIDGE

2/105 Lower Ridge

8.5.67 II

and the description shall be amended to read:

Farmhouse, now a private house. Late Medieval, thoroughly remodelled
and extended early/mid C17. Stone and knapped flint rubble; front wall
to right of entrance coursed and squared. Thatched roof; wing slated.
Four C19/C20 red-brick chimneys on ridge.
Plan: Through-passage plan with hall and 2 further rooms to right; 2
kitchens of different dates to left. Former farm building (converted
to dwelling in C19) at left-hand end. To left of entrance a long wing
set at right-angles to front wall; part abutting the house domestic
and probably at least C17, the rest a former farm building. C17 square
stair-turret behind central room adjoining hall to right. Hall clearly
open to roof originally; former internal jetty at upper end.
Exterior: 2 storeys, except second kitchen from left which is single-
storeyed with loft. 3-window range to right of entrance remodelled as
a distinct architectural unit in C17, though possibly in more than one
stage. Ground storey, has 3 Beer-stone windows with ovolo-moulded
mullions and hood-moulds; 3 lights in centre, 4 at either side. In
upper storey 3 similar windows of 3 lights, but without hood-moulds;
the 2 right-hand windows differ in having hollow-moulded mullions. All
windows have rectangular leaded panes tied to a vertical diamond-
section metal bar (replaced with round ones in right-hand upper-storey
windows); each window includes an opening iron casement with
decorative catch. Chamfered plinth. Stepped stone coping with kneelers
on each gable-end. Front door (to left) has chamfered wood frame with
run-out stops and cranked head. Plank door with scratch mouldings,
strap-hinges and knocker. Round-arched brick porch with chamfered
stone plinth, the latter perhaps surviving from an earlier porch.
Left-hand end of house and front wing have C18/C19 wood-mullioned
windows with leaded panes; some have opening iron casements with
decorative catches. Similar windows in rear wall; on the stair turret
the mullions are chamfered internally and probably date from mid/late
C17. At the base of each side-wall on the stair-turret is a small 2-
light wood-mullioned window, the mullions chamfered on the outside;
centre mullion missing on left (west) side. Gable of stair-turret has
shaped bargeboards and pendant. Rear door to through-passage has plain
wood frame; bead-moulded plank door with strap-hinges having fleur-de-
lis terminals. Interior: Hall has wide fireplace backing onto passage;
chamfered stone ashlar jambs, chamfered wood lintel. Against opposite
wall C17 panelled back to former seat; frieze with inlaid diamond
pattern; top cornice. Deep chamfered beams with large step-stops; that
at upper end masks rounded and chamfered joist-ends of former internal
jetty. Stone-flagged floor. Similar beams in the 2 rooms to right, but
with shallower chamfers; end room has exposed plain joists. In gable-
wall a large original fireplace with Beer-stone slab cheeks painted
with black and white chequer-pattern. The 3 rooms and stair lobby have
between them 4 plank doors with scratch-mouldings and decorative
strap-hinges. The 3 rooms above have similar doors, but with plainer
strap-hinges on the backs. Fireplace in gable-wall similar to that
below, but with chamfered, segmental-headed stone surround retaining
traces of black and white decoration; cheeks have pattern of chequered
circles and diamonds with a red border at the bottom. Left-hand room
has mid C19 moulded wood chimneypiece with round-arched iron grate.
Through-passage has stone-flagged floor; chamfered step-stopped half-
beam. Ovolo-moulded door-frame into hall. First kitchen has similar
beams; projecting into the wing a newel staircase with wood-block
steps. In left gable-wall a wide fireplace with jambs and lintel
matching those in hall; right-hand end blocked. Second kitchen has
wide fireplace backing onto that last described; slightly curved wood
lintel; brick jambs; oven in back with iron door marked C DENING & CO
CHARD. The fireplace is a later insertion, since it blocks a lime-
plastered wall in the loft. Former farm building has beams of what
appears to have been a linhay; marks of former loft-posts visible in
upper-storey masonry. Wing has stone-slab floor in ground storey
adjoining house; cobbled floor in agricultural part. Roof over hall
and 2 rooms to right has trusses probably of C17/C18 with collars
pegged to the faces of the principals; through-purlins and ridge.
Similar trusses over left-hand end of building. Over division between
passage and first kitchen an older closed truss with tenoned collar
having original infill above it. Front section of wing has posts of
former jointed crucks. Foundations of former farm buildings visible
near house. An exemplary model of,this type of Devon farmhouse,
notable for its representation of multi-phase development and for its
retention of many interior features such as the black-and-white
decorated fireplaces and hall bench.

------------------------------------

ST 20 NE CHARDSTOCK LOWER RIDGE
2/105
8.5.67 Lower Ridge

II

Former farmhouse. Circa early C16 house, floor inserted and remodelled in C17.
Stone rubble. Thatched roof with stone coping to gable ends. Stone quoins. Two
storeys. Three window range. Three and four light ovolo moulded and hollow
chamfered stone mullion windows, ground floor with hood moulds. Chamfered cambered
arch doorway to left hand cross-passage. Later brick porch. At rear: wooden
mullion windows, all with leaded panes. Short gabled rear wing. Rebuilt brick and
end chimney stacks. Including converted outbuildings adjoining west. A long two
storey stone rubble range with thatched roof. And including outbuilding adjoining
south forming T-shaped plan, stone rubble with wood shingle roof with half hipped
end.
Interior: Mutilated remains of jointed cruck truss. Internal jetty and wainscott
seat. Stopped chamfer ceiling beams and fireplace lintels. Fireplace at west end
has jamb with painted returns. Similar but segmental arched fireplace above with
similar painting both probably C17. Ovolo moulded door frame in cross-passage with
carved stops. C17 panelling.

Listing NGR: ST2993805946

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17546863

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

• 
  Listed Buildings, Conservation Areas and Monuments
• 
  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas
• 
  Hampshire: Winchester and the North (The Buildings of England) (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)
• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide