Description

BROADWOODWIDGER
SX 39 SE
5/45 Upcott (formerly listed as
23.8.57 Upcott Barton)
GV II*
Farmhouse. Late C15/early C16 or earlier with C19 rear addition. The main range is
probably stone and whitewashed and rendered with a bitumen-painted slate roof gabled
at ends and a similar hipped roof to the porch. Rendered stack at left gable end,
rear right lateral stack to main range.
The quality of the surviving details and what appears to be the stub of a crosswing
wall at the left end suggests that the present house is a fragment of a larger
building, possibly the parlour wing. The present plan is a single depth main range,
2-rooms wide with the principal room to the right heated from the rear lateral stack
and divided from a smaller heated lower end room by a wide passage containing a
stair. The principal room appears to be a complete early C16 room although the fine
mullioned windows on the right gable end are an unusual feature and may perhaps have
been resited. 8 roof trusses of an upper chamber, probably also early C16, survive.
The porch is probably a late C17 addition and the original entrance to the range may
have lead into the passage which contains a circa late C17 stair. A service room in
a lean-to to the rear of the lower end may be an C18 addition, in the C19 a rear
right wing was added providing additional accommodation to the rear of the hall.
2 storeys. Asymmetrical 4-window front with regular fenestration and a 2-storey
porch with a hipped roof. To the right of the porch 1 first floor and 1 ground floor
4-light mullioned granite windows each with moulded mullions and architraves. Ground
and first floor granite mullioned windows to the right return of the main range are
similar but with king mullions and stanchions intact. Elsewhere the fenestration of
the front elevation is 2-light casements, C19 and C20, with glazing bars. At the
left end of the range the stub of what may have been a left crosswing wall survives.
Interior The principal room has 2 chamfered stopped cross beams and a fireplace
with hollow-chamfered jambs, and a hollow-chamferd segmental head. The gable end
hall window contains a circa early C16 stained glass heraldic shield. The inner
porch door which leads directly into the principal room is probably late C17 with
cover strips, the door leading from the main room to the passage is an unusual late
C17/early C18 board and batten door forming 2 panels between wide styles. A circa
late C17/early C18 dog-leg stair in the passage has bobbin turned balusters, some
replaced in the C19. The lower end room has a fireplace with a low chamfered stopped
lintel, the jambs appear to have been rebuilt but retain traces of scratch mouldings.
On the rear wall of the lower end room a high quality early C18 china cupboard
without doors with a round-head and a timber keystone feature, is set into the wall.
The cupboard partly blocks an extremely unusual 5-light window visible only from the
rear lean-to, this consists of a 5-light window visible only from the rear lean-to,
this consists of a 5-light stone mullioned all cut out of 1 slab of stone. The
lights are narrow slits and the function of the window must have been for ventilation
rather than lighting. Above this window on the first floor is an equally notable 4-
light window the outer face of which is now in the roofspace of the lean-to. This
window has 4 small trefoil-headed lights which are cut out of a single stone slab.
The lights are flush on the inner face but recessed on the outer face with chamfered
mullions. The inner face contains various holes, some with the stubs of wooden pegs
presumably for shutters. The window may be C15 or C16 but could be earlier. 8
closely-spaced roof trusses are of a high quality of carpentry and probably C16 with
chamfered principal rafters, the chamfer continued on cambered collars which are
mortised into the principals. The principal rafters are mortised at the apex with a
diagonally-set ridge and there are 2-tiers of trenched chamfered stopped purlins.
Some early C18 2-panel doors survive on the first floor. An important survival of
part of a high status early C16 house with some unusual stone and joinery details.

Listing NGR: SX3966790114

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17536584

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

• 
  The Victorian House Manual (2nd Edition): How They Were Built, Improvements & Refurbishment, Solutions to All Common Defects - Includes Relevant ... ... Properties (Haynes Manual) (Haynes Manuals)
• 
  Nottinghamshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)
• 
  Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Listed Buildings and Other Heritage Assets
• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)