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

• Wikidata Q17548143

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Recommended Books

• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair by Hunt. Roger ( 2008 ) Hardcover
• 
  For the Record
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of Historic Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Gloucestershire 1: The Cotswolds: Cotswolds Pt. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide