Description

COLEBROOKE
SX 79 NE
5/69 Great Heale Farmhouse
-
- II*

Farmhouse. Early C17. Plastered cob on rubble footings; stone rubble or cob
stacks topped with c20 brick; thatch roof.
3-room-and- through-passage plan house facing south with inner room at right (east)
end. Hall was floored from beginning and has large axial stack backing onto
passage. Inner room has rear lateral stack to ground floor and end stack to first
floor. Stair block to rear of hall and 2-storey porch with garret to front door.
2 storeys.
Regular 4-window front with a fifth on front of porch. Gabled porch towards left
end has ovolo-moulded outer arch. The first floor window to service room chamber
to left of porch and first floor porch window have original 2-light oak window
frames with ovolo-moulded mullions. The rest are late C19 casements with glazing
bars appear to occupy original embrasures. C20 sloping buttress right of centre
supports hall-inner room crosswall and another similar supports right end corner.
Roof is half-hipped to left and gable-ended to right. Rear gabled stairblock has
original oak windows, a small ground window with chamfered surround and iron
glazing bar and a first floor 2-light window with ovolo-moulded mullion, iron
glazing bars and still containing early leaded glass.
Very good interior of a remarkably complete single-period house. The internal
crosswalls are cob. Both passage and service room have soffit-chamfered and scroll
stopped crossbeams. The large hall/parlour is well-preserved and includes some
high quality features. The 3-bay ceiling is carried on richly-moulded crossbeams
with scroll stops which have chiselled floral motifs. The joists are exposed and
their soffits are scratch-moulded. The fireplace is open with painted probably
granite plain jambs but the lintel is obscured by a later board applied to the
front. At the upper end the original bench remains, a plain thick oak plank. The
back is made up of 2 bays of high quality oak wainscotting. Each bay comprises 4
panels separated by delicately moulded muntins with central hollow strips, the
rails above and below have continuous moulding, an upper frieze of 3 broad panels
carved with bas-relief Renaissance motifs including cornucopia and putti, and a
moulded and dentil cornice over a chip-carved band. The front wall includes a
cupboard with a panelled oak door.
The inner room has a Cl9 chimney piece blocking the original fireplace and the
axial bean is boxed in. The original broad oak newel stair has a cupboard on the
landing with plank doors on strap hinges. Double doors at stair head under oak
lintel which is soffit-chamfered with scroll stops. Most of first floor not
available for inspection at time of survey and roof space is inaccessible. However
plastered feet of trusses show suggesting original early C17 A-frame trusses of
large scantling survive.
Great Heale is a fine example of an early C17 house of rich yeoman or lesser gentry
status. For Devon it is unusual being a single period house although the medieval
layout may suggest an early C17 rebuild of an earlier house. It is most remarkable
in that so little has been done to the house since its erection.

Listing NGR: SX7552097835

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17548143

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

• 
  London 3: North West: North West v. 3 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990: Updated version