Description

HOCKWORTHY
ST 02 SW
1/69 Hole Farmhouse
-
- II
Farmhouse. Early-mid C16 (the C19 deeds mention a grant of land here circa 1540)
with major later C16 and C17 improvements, modernised in C19 and again circa 1970.
Exposed local stone rubble; stone rubble stacks and chimneyshafts topped with C20
brick; interlocking tile roof, formerly thatch.
Plan and development: long building built across the hillslope facing south-west
with a 5-room-and-through-passage plan. However the core of the plan is the 3-room-
and-through-passage plan section to left. The left end room is a kitchen with a
gable-end stack and former walk-in curing chamber alongside and projecting forward.
Next to it is the hall with large axial stack backing onto the passage. The C20
stairs which rise against the rear wall of the hall do so over the remains of a
former winder stair. Below (right of) the passage there is a parlour which has an
axial stack shared with the first room of the 2-room extension on the right end.
The right room has a gable end stack. Probably C17 dairy outshot to rear of the
left end kitchen. From the passage rightwards the 2-storey outshots are probably
late C19 - early C20.
This house has a long structural development, and much of the structural evidence
for this is hidden or has been replaced. Nevertheless the original house, dating
from the early or mid C16, appears to have been a 3-room-and-through-passage plan
house. At this time the hall, and maybe the passage and lower end parlour (then a
service room), was open to the roof and heated by an open hearth fire. The inner
room (the left end kitchen) was floored over with a chamber above. The hall
fireplace was inserted in the late C16, probably at the same time that the passage
and lower end were floored over. The hall was eventually floored in the mid C17
associated with a major rearrangement. The inner room was converted to a kitchen
with a new stack and curing chamber. Also the dairy to rear was probably added at
the same time. The hall now became the dining room and the lower room became a
parlour which was refurbished again in the late C17 - early C18. The 2-room
extension to right is probably mid or late C17. It is now divided off as a separate
cottage and might have been built so originally. The house is 2 storeys throughout.
Exterior: long and irregular 5-window front of C19 and C20 replacement casements
some with circa 1970 concrete lintels. The passage front doorway is a little left
of centre and contains C19 style panelled door and there is another at the right end
to the cottage. Alongside the passage door the window to the lower parlour has been
converted to a french window. At the left end the former curing chamber projects
forward. The roof is gable-ended.
Interior: the old inner room, the C17 kitchen, has a soffit-chamfered and step-
stopped crossbeam and the large stone rubble fireplace has a plain-chamfered oak
lintel, a side oven and disused walk-in curing chamber alongside. The former hall
is a large room with a large stone rubble fireplace and oak lintel with a chamfered
low Tudor arch. The crossbeam here is soffit-chamfered with scroll stops. The
passage and parlour were refurbished in the late C17 - early C18 and no carpentry
detail shows. The doorway from passage to parlour contains a fielded 2-panel door
of that date. The parlour fireplace is blocked. There are a couple more similar
doors around the house. The original roof survives over the hall and inner
room/kitcnen. It is carried on side-pegged jointed cruck trusses. Tne 2 over the
hall are heavily smoke-blackened from the original open hearth fire but that over
the inner room/kitchen is clean. The rest of the roof appears to be a late C19 -
early C20 replacement built to incorporate the 2-storey outshots. The carpentry
detail of the 2-room extension is otherwise C17. Both rooms have plain soffit-
chamfered axial beams.

Listing NGR: ST0430320770

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26440743

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

• 
  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas
• 
  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability
• 
  Liverpool: Pevsner City Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)