Description

SOWTON BISHOP'S COURT LANE
SX 99 SE
1/36 Dymond's Farmhouse
-
18.11.76
- II

Farmhouse. Built 1676, probably for Richard Bevis, the son of the then owner of
Bishop's Court. Mainly roughcast cob on stone footings, with a brick service end
extension. Hipped thatched roof. Four-room house in a straight block; the main
entrance leads into the hall with inner room to the left of the hall, and a kitchen
and another service room to the right; there is no indication of an original
passage. The hall ceiling extends over the present passage, which might have been
divided from it by a low screen. The service end was extended, or a fifth room
rebuilt, in brick in the C19, with a barn to the rear. Hall heated by a shallow
external rear lateral stack; inner room with an internal end fireplace (shaft
dismantled); kitchen heated by a prominent external lateral rear stack. Main
stairs now between hall and inner room; secondary stairs to rear of service room.
2 storeys.
Front: irregular 5-window range; the eaves line runs at a higher level over the
hall and inner room; first floor windows to these chambers are tall C19 2-light
casements under pronounced brick window arches; kitchen and service-room chambers
with 2 and 4-light casement windows, mid C19, both under eyebrow eaves; brick
extension with small 2-light casement window. Ground floor: 2-light C19 casement
windows under pronounced window arches to inner room, hall and kitchen; service
room with 3-light: C17 stone window with ovolo moulded surround and mullions, the
outer lights blocked. 3 doors, that to the left with slated canopy. The main
door, leading into the hall, has a datestone 'RB 1676' with pretty foliage and
floral decoration, set above it.
Rear: the hall chamber extends beyond the line of the rear wall and is separately
gabled, and supported by brick piers (possibly replacing wooden posts), now
engulfed in later leantos that extend along the whole length of the house. 2 C17
windows, both of 2 lights with ovolo moulded stone surrounds and mullion, one
(entirely blocked) to service room, the other to the chamber above kitchen. Right-
hand elevation with 2 brick buttresses.
Interior: as described by Dr Alcock; hall ceiling divided by ceiling beam, each
compartment with central plaster rose and corner florets; service end with 2
ceiling beams, one with run-out stops. Rough stud and panel screen between service
room and rear stairs. Rear barn with straight principals to roof, crossed,
morticed and pegged at apex, the collars bolted.
The farmhouse has remained almost completely unchanged since Dr Alcock's visit, N W
Alcock, 'Houses in an East Devon Parish', Trans.Devon Assoc., 94 (1962), p.221,
p1.19, 20, 21; figs.15, 18.

Listing NGR: SX9862992645

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26458051

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

• 
  Georgian Style and Design for Contemporary Living
• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cork: City and County (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Huddersfield in 50 Buildings
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)