Description

SX 39 NE
3/20

ASHWATER
HIGHER PRESTACOTT
Buckingham Farmhouse

II
House. Possibly medieval origins, alterations of circa mid to late C17, C20 renovations. Cob on stone rubble footings, colourwashed and plastered with a water reed thatched roof half-hipped at the left end and gabled at the right end. Brick chimney at right gabled end, axial brick chimney.

The development of the house is not absolutely clear but the early plan may have been two-rooms wide, the right hand end being a two bay open hall with a partition wall to the passage which had a solid wall to the two storey lower end. The roof structure suggests that the third room, adjoining the lower end, is either a rebuilding or an addition. The two right hand roof trusses are, however, only very lightly smoke-blackened and this may have occurred accidentally. The gradient of the site and the C17 features, however, indicate a three room and through passage plan with the hall in the centre heated from a stack at the inner hall, a heated lower end room to the right of the passage and a lower status unheated inner room probably used for storage.

A rear outshut under a catslide roof is probably an C18 or C19 addition. A C19 stair has been inserted in the passage which appears to have been decreased in width. The chimney breast of the axial stack has been altered, probably in the late C19 or early C20 partly blocking the fireplace of the middle room but using the stack to heat the inner room.

Two storeys. Asymmetrical three window front with an off-centre C19 brick gabled porch on the front to the right and a further entrance on the front at the left into the inner room. Ground floor windows are three-light casements, three panes per light. The thatch eaves are eyebrowed over the first floor window left which is a two-light casement six panes per light. The other two first floor windows are two-light casements, 8 panes per light. There is a stone buttress at the right end.

Interior: the four roof trusses between the stacks are collar rafter with cambered collars lap dovetailed into the principal rafters which are lapped and notched at the apex with a diagonally set ridge. The purlins are threaded and roughly chamfered and the quality of the carpentry is high. The two right hand trusses appear to be lightly smoke-blackened and the second truss from the right is closed. The trusses over the left hand end have straight collars halved and pegged into the principal rafters but no attempt at a fine finish. The feet of the principal rafters throughout appear to be straight.

The fireplace of the middle room (the C17 hall) has stone jambs of squared masonry and an ovolo-moulded timber lintel with ogee stops and a section of decorative carving between the moulding and the stops. The right gable end fireplace is similar. The remains of a plaster cornice were found during renovations to the middle room, the joists which are unchamfered are now exposed. Some fragments a similar cornice exist on the first floor suggesting a great chamber above the C17 hall. A two-light ovolo-moulded timber mullioned window was discovered during renovations in the right gable end on the first floor. The window is blocked externally. The C17 features are of a high quality and suggest a high status house of that date.

Listing NGR: SX3912896101

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26398633

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

• 
  Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Hampshire: South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Staffordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House