Description

SY 29 NW WIDWORTHY

4/135 Cookshayes Farmhouse including - gate piers adjoining to south 22.2.55 GV II*

Farmhouse. Late C16 - early C17 (maybe earlier core) partly rebuilt and thoroughly refurbished in 1702 by Robert Marwood. Plastered local stone and flint rubble with some Beerstone detail; stone rubble stacks with C18, C19 and C20 brick chimneyshafts; thatch roofs, some of it replaced with corrugated iron. Plan: the main block faces south and it has a 3-room plan. Since no full internal inspection was available at the time of this survey the precise details of the internal layout cannot be described. However the left end room which has a projecting gable-end stack and the centre room which has an axial stack backing onto it are the 2 principal rooms and one was the dining room. The centre room has a narrow room behind it. The main stair is at the right end with a stable behind and large room in front in a wing projecting at right angles with a projecting outer lateral stack. There is no partition crosswall between the stair and front room. There is an entrance hall in a 2-storey turret in the angle of the 2 wings. A kitchen wing projects at right angles to rear of the left (west) end. This is a wide building with a narrow room on the outer (west) side which was probably a dairy or buttery originally. The kitchen has a large gable-end stack and there is a service stair between the kitchen and the front room. The present layout is essentially the result of the 1702 refurbishment although it seems that the basic fabric is late C16 - early C17, and parts may be earlier. A crosswing on the left (west) end or south end of the present crosswing is supposed to have existed once. The house is 2 storeys. Exterior: regular 4:1:1-window front. Most are C20 casements, those in the gable end of the crosswing without glazing bars. However 2 of the first floor windows of the main block are late C16 - early C17 2-light Beerstone windows with ovolo-moulded mullions and hoodmoulds. There are more similar windows on the entrance lobby and in the inner (west) side of the crosswing; some are blocked but others contain rectangular panes of leaded glass. The main doorway, on the inner side of the entrance lobby has an early C17 hoodmould. The main block roof, the entrance lobby, kitchen block and crosswing roofs have gable ends with shaped kneelers and coping. The left gable end of the main block is blind with a stone mounting block in front. The windows around the rest of the house are mostly C20 casements with glazing bars although there are a couple of late C16 - early C17 oak windows with ovolo-moulded mullions and a couple of early C18 oak flat-faced mullion windows. Interior: only limited internal access was available at the time of this survey but enough was seen to indicated that late C16 - early C17 carpentry and early C18 joinery detail survives. For instance the kitchen has a late C16 - early C17 chamfered and step-stopped crossbeam. The large contemporary fireplace is blocked although its oak-framed front is exposed and in the outside wall behind are 2 oven doorways (the ovens and their housing has been removed. In the main block and crosswing all structural carpentry is plastered over. However the left room of the main block has a large early C18 bolection chimneypiece. The large fireplace in the crosswing has a C19 chimneypiece. The main stair is also early C18; a good dogleg stair with closed string, square newel posts, moulded handrail and turned balusters. A tall stone rubble garden wall projects forward from the left end of the front and it contains early C18 Beerstone ashlar gate posts; square in section with alternate projecting blocks and ball finials. Source: Devon SMR.

Listing NGR: SY2102997529

External Links

• Wikidata Q17547023

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