Description

ST 01 NW
4/70

HOCKWORTHY

Morrels Farmhouse

II

Farmhouse. C16 origins with later C16 and C17 improvements including a major late
C17 - early C18 renovation and rearrangement. Stone rubble with sections of
plastered cob; stone rubble stacks topped with plastered brick; concrete tile roof,
formerly thatch.
Plan and development: 4-room plan house facing south-east and built across the
hillslope. At the left (south-west) end is the kitchen and left of centre the
former hall or dining room. An axial stack between serves back-to-back fireplaces.
A C19 stair was built up the upper end of the hall (opposite the fireplace). and a
C19 doorway inserted in front. Right of centre is the parlour with a rear lateral
stack. A fourth unheated room at the right (north-east) end. Besides the doorway
into the hall there are others into the right and left end rooms. The present plan
is essentially that of the late C17 - early C18 renovation. However the core is
earlier. The hall and parlour derive from an earlier house, probably a C16 3-room-
and-through-passage plan. The original house was open to the roof and heated by an
open hearth fire. The inner room parlour was floored over in the late C16 - early
C17 probably with the fireplace there. The hall fireplace was inserted about the
same time. The hall was floored over in the early or mid C17. In the late C17 -
early C18 the passage and service end was rebuilt as the kitchen with a new stack
inserted backing onto the hall stack. At the same time the fourth room was added at
the right end. House is now 2 storeys.
Exterior: irregular 5-window front of C20 casements without glazing bars, the
latest ones of PVC. All 3 doors are C20 behind contemporary porches. Roof is
gable-ended.
Interior: the hall/dining room has a large stone rubble fireplace (relined in the
C20) with soffit-chamfered oak lintel. There are 2 crossbeams here but only one is
exposed; it is soffit-chamfered with scroll stops. The half beam across the
chimneybreast has been cut off short of the front wall and is supported by a shaped
oak bracket (probably late C17 - early C18). A corresponding one was put the other
side circa 1980. The partition between hall and parlour includes the remains of an
oak plank-and-muntin screen. The parlour has a 4-panel intersecting beam ceiling
with broad hollow chamfers. The fireplace here is blocked. One original truss
remains. It is probably some kind of jointed cruck but only the top is exposed. It
is smoke-blackened from the open hearth fire. The rest is late C17 - early C18 and
has plain carpentry detail. The kitchen fireplace is blocked. The right end of the
roof is late C17 - early C18 A-frame trusses. The rest has been replaced in the C20.

Listing NGR: ST0126619240

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26400305

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

• 
  [(Shropshire)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1958)
• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)
• 
  Cambridgeshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  County Durham (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England) by Elizabeth Williamson Nikolaus Pevsner(1983-03-11)