Description

JACOBSTOWE
SS 50 SE
7/156 Croft Farmhouse including
- farm building adjoining to north
28.5.87
GV II*
Farmnouse and adjoining farm building. Probably late medieval, hall stack inserted
probably in mid to late C16, and remodelled, floored and extended in circa mid C17,
and with some C19 alterations.
Cob with stone rubble plinth and partly rebuilt at front in stone rubble. Scantle
slate roof with gabled ends. Bridgewater tile roof at lower level at lower right
hand end. Stone rubble lateral stack at front with weathered set-off and tall
granite shaft with granite cap, heightened in C19 in red brick. C19 red brick shaft
to stack at left hand end.
Plan: 3-room and cross-passage plan, the higher end to the left has a relatively
large inner room heated from a gable end stack and with a later staircase inserted
at its lower end against the hall partition. At the lower right end there is a
small unheated room and an adjoining farm building beyond to the right. The passage
between the lower room and the hall has no back doorway. The hall has a lateral
stack at the front.
Development: because only the hall and passage were inspected the development of
the house is uncertain. However it seems that at least the hall was open to the
roof originally and that the front lateral stack was inserted later in the C16 before
the hall was finally floored in circa mid C17. The evidence for this is the high
lintel of the hall fireplace which is of a different character to the hall ceiling
beams with their bar stops. When the hall was floored the higher end was extended
and its front wall built forward in line with the hall stack. The hall stack has
masonry of different character, the ovolo moulded hall and higher end windows have
true mitres not typical of a date earlier than the mid C17 and the mid C17 hall
ceiling beams are therefore likely to be coeval with the windows. The lower end may
have been truncated also in the mid C17 to form a small unheated service room next
to the passage and its lower roof extends over the farm buildings beyond. The range
of outbuildings around the courtyard to the east qv, in front of the house, may have
been built at the same time as the aid C17 remodelling. Because of limited access
the extent of later alterations is uncertain however there seems to have been
remarkably little done to the house since tne C19.
Exterior: 2 storeys. Asymmetrical 3-window front. Ground floor centre and left
hand there are 2 wooden C17 ovolo-moulded 4-light windows and a similar 3-light
window on the first floor to the left. First floor centre and right late C19 1 and
2-light casements with glazing bars. Stone rubble lateral stack to right of centre
with weathered set-off and tall granite shaft with a cap and heightened in red brick.
A squint in the right hand side of tne stack in the passage doorway. The passage
has a late C19 plank door set back with a shallow rectangular overlight above.
Immediately to the right of the passage doorway there is a large baulk of timber set
into the wall which may be the foot of a cruck. To the right of the passage doorway
a small circa C17 single-light window with a chamfered wooden frame.
To the right the lower end appears to have been rebuilt as a farm building; it is
cob on a stone rubble plinth and has a lower level tiled roof with a gabled end;
ground floor plank door to the right and a loft door at the centre.
The rear elevation of the house is cob built to the right and the stone rubble back
wall to the left is set back slightly. 3 C19 casements with glazing bars.
Interior: only the hall was inspected. It has 3 chamfered cross-beams with large
rather crude bar-type stops. The large hall lateral fireplace has granite monolith
jambs and a chamfered timber lintel set very high with straight-cut stops. At the
higher end of the hall there is a bench with shaped feet and probably reused C17
panelling for the back.

Listing NGR: SS5699800324

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17536859

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

• 
  The Victorian House Manual (2nd Edition): How They Were Built, Improvements & Refurbishment, Solutions to All Common Defects - Includes Relevant ... ... Properties (Haynes Manual) (Haynes Manuals)
• 
  Drawing up a Local Listed Building Consent Order: Historic England Advice Note 6
• 
  London 3: North West: North West v. 3 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Hampshire: Winchester and the North (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)