Description

SY 28 NW BRANSCOMBE

8/14 Little Seaside Farmhouse
-
27.9.83
- II

Farmhouse. Probably early-mid C16 with a major early-mid C17 refurbishment,
renovated with an extension circa 1982. Mostly local stone and flint rubble
although the front includes sections of squared blocks of Beerstone laid to rough
courses and the rear includes some cob; stone rubble stacks topped with C19 and C20
brick; thatch roof.
Plan and development: 5-room plan house built across the hillslope and facing
south-west. The left end room has a gable-end stack although this is a C20
insertion. The room left of centre has an axial kitchen stack, backing onto the
centre room, a former parlour with a projecting rear lateral stack and with a newel
stair turret projecting alongside. Right of centre an unheated room and the right
end room has an axial stack. This right end room is an addition of circa 1982. The
rest of the house was altered a little when it was converted to cottages in the C18
or C19 but is still essentially an early-mid C17 house made by rearranging an
earlier house.
This earlier house was undoubtedly some form of open hall house but its precise
layout is unclear. The kitchen appears to occupy the former hall but it is not
known where the passage was. Also since the roofpsace is inaccessible it is not
known whether the original house had an open hearth fire although smoke blackening
is suspected since the kitchen/former hall fireplace is early-mid C17. There are
also some curious straight joints showing in the masonry of the front wall, but they
do not contribute towards any understanding the C16 farmhouse. It is 2 storeys.
Exterior: irregular 6-window front of C19 and C20 casements with glazing bars.
There are 2 front doorways and both are secondary insertions. The left one, into
the former kitchen, contains a C20 French window. The right one, into the former
parlour, contains a C19 plank door in an early-mid C17 oak crank-headed doorframe.
This doorframe has probably been moved from the early-mid C17 front doorway which is
now blocked by the window between the present doorways. The roof is gable-ended to
left and half-hipped to right.
Interior: the plastered partition between the kitchen and unheated room is not
structural and not even positioned directly underneath the chamfered crossbeam there
which retains a couple of runout stops. The kitchen crossbeam is chamfered with
scroll stops, the same finish as the oak lintel of the large fireplace which also
includes a large oven. The Cl7 lobby entrance was at the the front end of this
stack. Across the back of the stack and showing in the parlour is a C16 oak plank-
and-muntin screen. Its original central doorway was blocked by the kitchen
fireplace and a new crank-headed doorway was cut through the front end to the C17
lobby. In the former lobby the ends of joists oversail the screen suggesting an
internal jetty arrangement into an open hearth before the kitchen stack was built.
Another oak plank-and-muntin screen at the other end of the parlour and the
crossbeam here is chamfered with bar-scroll stops. In the back wall is a relatively
small Beerstone ashlar fireplace with richly-moulded jambs (the soffit of the lintel
has been cut back). Alongside to right are a pair of crank-headed doorways; the
first is larger and leads to the stair, the second is to the cupboard below the
stairs. At the head of the stairs are a pair of crank-headed doorways to the former
principal chambers. The partition between them and another across the back of the
hall stack are oak-framed. The roof is carried on side-pegged jointed cruck trusses
and includes a particularly wide bay over the kitchen/former hall. The roof
structure is probably C16 but the roofspace is inaccessible.
This is an interesting and attractive farmhouse.

Listing NGR: SY2051888469

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26398114

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)
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Old House Handbook 2 Books Bundle Collection (Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair,Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability)
• 
  For the Record
• 
  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of Historic Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas