Description

ST MEWAN
SW 95 SE
4/80 Bosinver Farmhouse
-
II

Farmhouse, now house. Probably late C16 - early C17; circa mid C17 alterations and
addition of a stair tower. Probably in the late C18 an addition to rear left and
probably at about the same time or early in the C19 an addition at the right end.
Later alterations and additions of C19 and C20. Stone rubble and cob; rendered.
Thatched half-hipped roof; the outshut with slate roof. Two rear lateral stacks to
left with rubble shafts.
Plan: The original plan is not clear. The house may have been of 3-room plan, but
the site of a passage is not clear. There would have been one room to right,
possibly originally heated from a gable end stack to right. The hall is to centre,
heated from a rear lateral stack and the upper end room to end left, also heated from
a rear lateral stack. Circa mid C17, a stair tower was added to the rear of the
hall; possibly at about the same time, a 2-storey bay was added to the front of the
hall. This is now used as a porch and the two rooms to rear right are all one room.
Probably in the C18, an addition of one-room was made to rear left, entered from the
stair tower. Probably slightly later, a one-room plan cross wing was added to the
right end, heated from a gable end stack to rear, with an oven; this may have
replaced the lower end room as a kitchen. The hall was also used for cooking, with
an oven inserted in the rear of the fireplace.
Exterior: 2 storeys, asymmetrical 3-window front, with a shallow bay to the main
front and the cross wing to right. The bay has a C20 door with C20 plastic window at
first floor; the corner to right, by the doorway, is also glazed as a small window;
C20 flat hood on granite piers. At ground floor to right an early C20 paired 4-pane
sash, first floor right a C20 2-light 6-pane casement. Ground floor to left a C19
12-pane sash and first floor similar 2-light 6-pane casement. The left end has C20
glazed door and C20 plastic window at first floor. Attached to left is the C18
addition, an outshut of single storey with loft; C20 window with keystone at ground
floor and 4-pane window at first floor. At the right end, the cross-wing is 2-
storey; C20 plank door and C20 window at ground floor to right, with two C20 windows
to left and hipped thatched porch. The front end of the cross-wing has a single
storey C20 addition. At the rear, there is a single storey C20 addition behind the
C18 outshut to right. The stair tower has gable end with C19 16-pane sash; to left
is the rear lateral stack to the hall, with a curved oven at the base and C20 small
lean-to. At ground floor to left there is a C20 window. The gable end of the cross
wing is to left with external stack and curved oven at the base of the stack. C20
porch set in the angle to the external stack.
Interior: The main range is at lower floor level than the cross wing. Some of the
ceiling beams are C19 replacements and some are very roughly hewn and chamfered. The
rear lateral fireplace to the hall has granite jambs and lintel, hollow-chamfered
with run-out stops. Cloam oven to rear right with clay door. In the stair tower to
rear, there is a C19 4-panelled door leading to the outshut to rear left. The stair
is a wide dog-leg, of C17, with turned balusters and wide moulded handrail. At first
floor, the feet of the principal rafters are boxed in; roof space not fully
accessible, but the principal rafters are halved and pegged, roughly hewn, with the
purlins resting on the backs of the principal rafters.
The cross-wing has C19 ceiling beams at ground floor and fireplace with cloam oven.
Source: Chesher, V. and F.: The Cornishman's House 1968.

Listing NGR: SW9941951141

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26436889

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

• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 3: North West: North West v. 3 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Leeds, Bradford and the North (Pevsner Architectural Guides / Buildings of England)
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  For the Record