Description

SW 73 SE MABE

3/70 Higher Spargo Farmhouse including
- adjoining walls at rear


GV II

Farmhouse. C17, C18 and circa 1810; C19 part of house remodelled circa 1893.
Granite ashlar front to C19 house, otherwise granite rubble, with granite dressings,
limewashed to part. Dry Delabole slate roof to C19 house, otherwise scantle slate.
Rendered brick chimneys over gable ends of C19 house, axial brick chimney towards
rear of C18 range, tall rubble stack over right-hand end of C17 house.
Plan: Overall U-shaped plan: double-depth C19 house at the front; probably C18 or
C18 remodelled C17 range at right angles behind the right-hand side and a C17 2-room
plan house returning on the left at the rear parallel to the C19 house. C19 house
has 2 rooms at the front flanking an entrance hall between leading to stair hall
between kitchen at rear left and probably a pantry or dairy at rear right. C18 range
is now 1 room at the front and its fireplace in the front right-hand corner is
remodelled as a stair to a small gallery. Behind this room is an axial through
passage with a service room beyond. Over the passage and the service room is a
heated chamber with a fireplace which shares a flue with the large stack of the C17
house. Access to this chamber is by a large flight of stone steps. C17 house has
unheated room on the left, heated kitchen on the right with large fireplace doorway
leads straight into this larger room; Behind the left-hand room is a later pantry
outshut; behind the kitchen is a shallow possibly original outshut, possibly a furze
cupboard or even a bed space. This C17 house may be all that remains of a larger
group of C17 buildings on the same site as the present buildings. The principal C17
house may have been on the site of the C19 house. There is a C19 lean-to on the left
of the C17 house and a circa late-C19 range of 4 pigstys (now roofless) adjoining the
left-hand side of the C19 house. There is a high wall enclosing the left-hand side
of a courtyard between the C19 house and the C17 house, and there is another wall at
the rear of the small farmyard on the left of this.
Exterior: 2 storeys. Symmetrical 3 window south-south-east front with central
doorway. Plinth, granite ashlar, and flat arches with projecting keystones over the
openings. Possibly original 6-panel door with overlight; circa 1893 dressed granite
distyle classical style porch; 4-pane horned sashes of the same date. Rear has
original flush-panelled door and circa mid-C19 12-pane hornless sashes. There is a
possibly original 16-pane hornless sash in the right hand wall. C17 house has 2
window front with approximately central doorway. Wooden lintel over doorway, old
ledged door. Original small C17 chamfered granite window opening left of doorway;
larger C17 3-light chamfered granite mullioned window right of doorway. First floor
(probably C18 or C19 enlarged) window openings are closer spaced and contain circa
early C19 2-light windows with mortices for vertical glazing bars. The right-hand
window has internal glazed casements. Left-hand wall of C18 range has a probably
reused C17 chamfered granite doorway on the right and the rebated head of a C17
window to its left. This window has had a mullion restored to it recently (1987).
There is a C17 chamfered jambstone (possibly in situ) on the left of the outer
doorway to the through passage. A 4-centred arched doorway in the courtyard wall was
resited circa 1984 following its removal from the rear of the through passage at
Lower Sparge qv. The hogs back copings on the courtyard wall were cut for Higher
Spargo in 1836 (account record). There is a granite monolithic mounting block right
of the through passage outer doorway.
Interior: C19 house has a large fireplace of reused C17 granite jambs and lintel in
its kitchen. The other features are mostly of the 1893 remodelling including:
panelled doors, some plaster ceiling cornices and the turned-baluster stairs. C17
house has softwood plank and muntin partition between the rooms, a large granite
fireplace spanned by a hardwood lintel; a C17 chamfered granite fireplace to chamber
above, and probably C19 first floor and roof structures. In the chamber adjoining
the gable end of the C17 house is a C17 chamfered granite fireplace (possibly
resited) with its lintel cut from an earlier gatepost with sockets for loose bars.
In the C17 and until C17 Higher Spargo was occupied by a branch of the Godolphin
family; it was then held by the Hawkins family of Trewinnard (qv).
Source: Historical information supplied by present occupier.

Listing NGR: SW7540732318

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26452513

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

• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cambridgeshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)