Description

SHEEPWASH
SS 40 NE
7/84 (South) Gortleigh Farmhouse
-
21.2.77
- II
Farmhouse. Early C16 with C17 alterations and C19 additions. Rendered and
plastered cob walls and rubble walls. Thatch roof gabled to left and hipped to
right end. 1 brick axial stack, 1 to left gable-end and 1 at end of rear wing.
Plan: original plan not entirely clear - it seems to follow the 3-room-and-through-
passage pattern but the proportions of the rooms do not seem to fit this pattern.
At the right-hand end where one would expect to find the lower end there is a barn
or shippon which has a solid wall dividing it from the house part and a late C17 or
C18 roof structure. The house part consists of 3 rooms - a large central one -
obviously the hall - heated by an axial stack at its right end and a small room to
either side both heated but the right-hand one shares the hall stack and obviously
has an inserted fireplace. This suggests a passage, hall and inner room but the
right-hand rooms seems too wide to have been a passage - whereas the inner room
seems unusually narrow. Probably the most likely answer is that since the house
originated as an open hall house with central hearth and possibly low partitions its
plan was considerably modified in the early C17 by the insertion of floors and
chimney stacks and quite possibly the lower end was entirely rebuilt. The inner
room may be a C17 addition although this still does not explain its narrow
proportions. In the C19 a dairy/service wing was added at the rear of the left-hand
end with an outshut adjoining.
Exterior: 2 storeys. Asymmetrical 2-window front of circa late C19 or early C20 2-
light small-paned casements. Lower barn to right has a wide central doorway with a
C19 slatted window to either side. The doorway to the house is through a converted
outbuilding projecting from its left end with a C20 plank and part-glazed door. The
rear elevation has C19 gabled wing to right with outshut adjoining to its left. The
rear barn wall preserves an original 1st floor loading hatch with wooden frame.
Interior: hall has good C17 fireplace with roll moulded wooden lintel. The left-
hand room has evidence of a fireplace with chamfered wooden lintel and has an axial
chamfered ceiling beam supported on a curved wooden corbel. On the 1st floor above
the hall in the rear wall is a 2-light square section wooden mullion window. Over
the hall the original smoke-blackened roof structure survives consisting of 2 pairs
of sharply elbowed crucks (it is not known how far down they extend) with threaded
purlins and diagonal ridge. The original rafters and thatch are also preserved.
The hall stack has been inserted into 1 of the trusses. The barn has a late C17 or
C18 roof structure consisting of straight principals with lapped and pegged collars.

Listing NGR: SS4665806415

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26398519

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

• 
  London 4: North: North v. 4 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Building Small Projects (New Best of Fine Woodworking)
• 
  London 1: The City of London: City of London v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Derbyshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair