Description

PETER TAVY
SX 57 NW
9/72 Coxtor Farmhouse and Farm
buildings around yard immediately
14.6.52 to East.
II

Farmhouse. Circa early C16 with late C16 or early C17 modifications and altered in
C19. Stone rubble walls rendered at the front. Gable ended slate roof with
decorative C19 ridge tiles. 3 rendered stacks one at right gable end and 2 axial,
the left-hand one at the break in roof-line over left-hand end.
Plan: The original house has been truncated at the lower left end so its form is
not entirely clear but it is likely to have been either a longhouse or three rooms
with cross-passage, of which the lower left end beyond the passage has been rebuilt.
It is probable that the hall was originally open to the roof with a central hearth
but there is no evidence as to whether the inner room and lower end were also open
to the roof. The house was given a high quality modernisation in the late C16 or
early C17 when the hall fireplace was inserted backing onto the passage and the hall
was ceiled. At this stage the newel stairs might have been sited in a projection at
the rear of the hall stack. Later in the C17, however they were positioned at the
rear of the higher end of the hall in a larger projection. In the C19 the lower end
was rebuilt as inferior service rooms. The farm buildings in front of the house
around a yard date back probably to the C17 and may have been integral to the
remodelling of the house, providing valuable shelter on its exposed side to the
east.
Exterior: 2 storeys. Asymmetrical 4 window front of later C20 aluminium windows.
Gabled single storey porch towards left end with early C17 chamfered granite 3-
centred arched outer and inner doorways. To the left of the porch the house has
been rebuilt with a lower roof-line. At the rear the house has been built into the
hillside with only one window at the right-hand end which has a granite mullion
frame. There are a number of projections on the rear wall of which the largest,
towards the left-hand end, is rectangular with a curved section of wall to the right
which has a blocked granite-framed light. The other main projection is to the right
behind the hall stack and is shallower.
Interior: Over the hall one original roof truss survives. It comprises substantial
principal rafters with sightly curved feet, threaded purlins and morticed cranked
collar which is chamfered on the top and soffit. Morticed apex which had diagonal
ridge. At some stage the truss has been cleaned but in places it appears
considerably darkened, suggesting smoke-blackening from a central hearth. There is
the vestigial remains of another early truss at the higher end but otherwise the
house was completely re-roofed in the C20.
The other surviving old features are in the hall and are of a remarkably high
quality. A chamfered granite segmental-headed doorway leads from passage to hall.
The hall fireplace has a roll-moulded granite frame with straight lintel and an C18
wooden cornice above. To its right is a narrow granite-framed opening the original
purpose of which is unclear although a newel stair may have been sited there. The
hall ceiling is of an extremely high quality for a West Devon farmhouse having cross
beams which are hollow, roll and hollow moulded. The joists on the central and
higher section of the ceiling are similarly decorated while those in the lower end
section are chamfered as is the half beam over the fireplace. All have hollow step
stops. The other interesting feature of the hall is the built-in bench with ornate
panelled and carved back against the higher end wall. This has an ornate frieze and
cornice which incorporates the date 1650 and initials Sk. It is reputed that this
panelling and carving came from elsewhere. A rare survival is the bench-end which
has 2 scroll-shaped finials.
Immediately to the east of the farmhouse farm buildings form 3 sides of a courtyard
to which the house is on the 4th side. These are probably C17 in origin, of stone
rubble construction although they now reveal no early features. At the south-west
corner of the yard is a covered entrance way.
Although this house has been considerably altered and its early features are
concentrated in one part their high quality makes this a particularly interesting
moorland farmhouse which must have been of some importance in the C16 and C17.

Listing NGR: SX5214076136

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26399346

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

• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2
• 
  Northumberland (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability
• 
  Hampshire: South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)