Description

BOW
SS 79 NW
4/9 Spestos Farmhouse
-
- II

Farmhouse. C16 with C17 and late C17/early C18 alterations and improvements;
renovated circa 1984. Plastered cob and rubble, some C20 concrete blockwork
mending; rubble stacks with plastered C20 brick chimney shaft; corrugated asbestos
roof (formerly thatch).
Originally a 3-room-and-through-passage plan house facing south-east with inner room
at right (north-east) end. Large axial hall stack backing onto passage and end
stack to service room. Circa 1984 inner room end stack demolished and new axial
stack built backing onto hall. Rear passage doorway now blocked. Newel turret
projecting to rear of hall. 2 storeys. Regular 4-window front of C20 casements,
one with glazing bars. C20 buttresses either side of central 2 windows. C20 door
to passage left of centre. Roof hipped each end.
Interior: hall side of passage shows neatly squared blocks of granite from the rear
of late C16 stack and towards the rear is the headbeam of a contemporary oak plank-
and-muntin screen. In the hall the large granite fireplace has an oak lintel with
soffit chamfer and step stops. The large crossbeam and 2 half-beams in the hall
have plain chamfers and are probably C17. The rear newel stair was rebuilt and
turned round circa 1984. The service room has roughly chamfered crossbeam and large
rubble fireplace with plain-chamfered oak lintel, probably late C17/early C18.
Inner room was completely rebuilt circa 1984. Roof of probably late 017/early C18
A-frame trusses with pegged lap-jointed collars. Hall truss to rear can be seen to
rest on vertical post chased into the wall. The large-framed partition between hall
and passage chambers may be late C16.

Listing NGR: SX7227698667

Recommended Books

• 
  Listed Buildings, Conservation Areas and Monuments
• 
  Harrow on the Hill: A photographic portrayal of listed buildings and structures (Historic Buildings Picture Guides)
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability
• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)