Description

SAMPFORD COURTENAY
SS 60 SW
5/147 Lower (or Great) Cliston
GV II*

Farmhouse. Early C16 considerably remodelled and extended in early C17. Rendered
cob and rubble walls with some coursed granite ashlar coursed at the bottom of the
front wall and to the front of the wing. Thatch roof gabled at front of right-hand
end and to rear wing. 2 brick axial stacks and one to front gable end. At side of
rear wing is projecting lateral stack of granite ashlar with chamfered plinth,
offsets and moulded dripcourse and rim.
Plan: complex evolution of plan. It began probably as a 2 room-and-through-passage
house, hall to the left, lower room to the right. The hall at least was open to the
roof with a central hearth. The C17 alterations and additions probably occured in 2
stages. First the hall was floored and an inner room added with small wing behind
it containing probably a dairy. The hall and inner room were both given axial
stacks - that of the hall backing onto the passage. Not long afterwards in the C17
the rear wing was extended by another room - a good quality large parlour which was
reached both by independent external access and by a passage created beside the
dairy leading from the hall. Adjoining this passage a staircase was added in a
projection to the inner side of the wing with a probably integral porch arrangement
to the external parlour door beyond it. This opened onto a rear courtyard. At the
front of the lower room was a small bakehouse with no internal access from the
house. The plan remains very unaltered from the C17.
Exterior: 2 storeys. Asymmetrical 4-window front, the front of the right-hand end
is gabled and projects slightly, with the bakehouse, now reduced in height, built in
front of it. The windows are C20 1, 3 and 4-light wooden casements with glazing
bars. Wide C19 panelled and glazed door to passage towards right-hand end. Wing
projects behind left-hand side and has several old windows on its first floor. To
the left is an C18 4-light square section mullion to the right of the chimney stack
is a 3-light moulded C17 wooden mullion window and beyond that is a simpler
chamfered 3-light wooden mullion. Towards the right-hand end is a C19 gabled porch.
At the rear is rectangular stair projection on inner face of wing, adjoining porch
to parlour which has behind it a chamfered wooden doorframe with cranked head. On
the end wall of this projection at lst floor level is a C17 chamfered wooden mullion
window. C20 1 storey addition behind lower room to left.
Very good interior whose C17 features are of particular interest. Lower room has
chamfered cross beams with hollow step stops. At lower end of hall, adjoining
fireplace, is part of a plank and muntin screen with chamfered muntins. Its
fireplace is granite framed and chamfered. 3 chamfered cross beams with double
jewel stops. C17 doorframe from hall to inner room is chamfered with high jewel and
concave stops. At the rear of the hall is an early C18 wall cupboard with arched
head to glazed door and pilasters over which the cornice breaks forward. The
unheated dairy has chamfered beams with hollow step stops. The parlour has flat
beams and joist which evidently were intended to take a plaster ceiling which has
now gone. Its fireplace has roll-moulded granite jambs which have an inscribed
cross on them, and a roll-moulded wooden lintel. Leading to the stairs is a moulded
doorframe with cranked head, there are similar shaped chamfered doorframes at the
the head of the stairs. The stairs have turned balusters and a closed string with
moulded handrail. At the rear of the chamber above the inner room is a plank and
muntin screen which may have been re-used since the diagonal stops to its chamfered
muntins suggest a date in the earlier C16.
Roof: 1 original smoke-blackened truss survives over the hall which has curved feet
(plastered over) a morticed cranked collar, diagonal ridge and threaded purlins
which run on into the stack. C17 roof over higher end, re-using some smoke-
blackened purlins at a higher level, with no truss. Above the plank and muntin
screen in the rear parlour is a truss originally open with a wattle and daub infill.
Beyond it over the rear wing is a clean side-pegged jointed cruck with high morticed
cranked collar which is chamfered on the soffit and has threaded purlins and ridge.
This is a particuarly well-preserved high quality C17 remodelling of an earlier
house, evidently of gentry status which not only has some very good internal
features but also a very unspoilt exterior with several early windows. To include
courtyard wall to rear of house which incorporates segmental-headed granite doorway.

Listing NGR: SS6181601844

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17536884

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

• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cambridgeshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Harrow on the Hill: A photographic portrayal of listed buildings and structures (Historic Buildings Picture Guides)
• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)
• 
  Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)