Description

BURLESCOMBE
ST 01 NE
5/12 Rocknell Farmhouse including
- granary adjoining the south-east
5.4.66 end (Formerly listed as Rockwell).
GV II
House, former farmhouse, including what might once have been used as a mill. Early
C17, some late C17 - early C18 alterations, refurbished in late C19 and granary
extension of circa 1910. Colour-washed local stone rubble; stone rubble stacks,
one with its original stone rubble chimneyshaft, the others topped with C19 and C20
brick; thatch roof, slate to granary extension.
Plan and development: T-plan house with an unusual and original layout. The main
block faces north-east backing onto a stream. Overall it has a 5-room plan. At
the right (north-west) end there is a small room. It was originally unheated
although now there is an inserted gable-end stack. Its original function is not
known. Next to it is the main room, the hall, and it has a large axial stack
backing onto the right end room. Next to this is another small unheated room which
was originally divided axially into 2, probably dairy and small connecting lobby.
In front of this room and overlapping the hall a kitchen block with projecting
gable-end stack projects forward at right angles and it contains the main stair from
the hall (now a late C19 replacement of the original). The next room in the main
block is large with a secondary rear lateral stack. This might have been used as a
mill in the C17. It is difficult to ascribe any domestic function for it. At the
left (south-east) end there is the granary of circa 1910. There is a late C19-early
C20 service outshot (the present kitchen) across-the front to right of the original
kitchen block. There are now 2 entrances, one into the 'mill' and another into the
right end room through the outshot. There might always have been a doorway there
into the 'mill' but the main doorway into the house was a lobby entry in front of
the hall stack. The building is 2 storeys and there were originally attics in the
roofspace over the house section.
Exterior: 3-window front of C19 and C20 replacement casements with glazing bars to
left of the kitchen block. The 'mill' front doorway is in the centre of this
section and now contains a C20 door made up from C17 panelling. At the left end
there are doorways on each floor to the granary extension, tne upper one is gained
by an external flight of stone steps. There are no main block windows to right of
the kitchen because of the outshot there. The kitchen and rear wall contain more
C19 and C20 replacement casements with glazing bars and there is a C17 oak 2-light
window with a chamfered mullion to rear of the hall stack. The main block is gable-
ended to left and half-hipped to right. The kitchen block is gable-ended and the
projecting stack has weathered offsets.
Good interior: all the rooms of the house have soffit-chamfered beams with lambs
tongue stops. There are 4 more similar in the long 'mill' room. In the hall the
fireplace was built forward in the late C19 but the original is thought to survive
benind. The opposite crosswall is an oak plank-and-muntin screen which contains a
pair of central doorways with cambered heads; they have chamfered surrounds with
step stops. There are 2 more similar doorways off the stair landing to the main
block chambers, a third to the kitchen chamber and another survives in the roofspace
from the former stair to the attics. The late C19 replacement stair is only to the
first floor. The kitchen has a large fireplace with a plain chamfered oak lintel.
On the first floor the kitchen chamber ceiling is carried on soffit-chamfered
crossbeams with lambstongue stops. Those in the main block are plastered over.
Only the hall and dairy section of the main block roof is original; it is carried
on side-pegged jointed cruck trusses with a high slightly-curving collars. Lower
down another crossbeam carrying the bedchamber ceiling is fixed into each truss.
The rest of the roof was replaced in the late C17-early C18 A-frame trusses with
pegged and spiked lap-jointed collars and X-apexes. The granary has plain
carpentry detail. Throughout the house there is a great deal of introduced C20
joinery detail in C17 style.
This is an interesting single phase house which is built alongside a stream and
seems to incorporate a mill. The place is first mentioned in a charter of 958; then
it was called Ruwan Cnol.
Source: Devon SMR.

Listing NGR: ST0500716670

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26440566

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

• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of Historic Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
• 
  For the Record
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
• 
  London 3: North West: North West v. 3 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)