Description

KINGSTEIGNTON SX 87 NE 4/102 Bellamarsh Barton 23.8.55

GV II*

Farmhouse. Early C15 or possibly earlier origins, circa mid C16 rear wing, C17 remodelling including addition of porch and probably of rear stair wing. Roughcast stone; slate roof, gabled at ends; left end stacks, axial stack. The original plan was a medieval open hall house of high status: the design of the roof, with intermediate trusses is evidence both of the quality of the medieval building and its early date. The medieval roof does not extend the entire length of the present main range but concludes at the left end with a closed truss (infill removed). The extreme left end of the main range has been re-roofed and may have been rebuilt, thus the lower end arrangement of the medieval house is not clear but the closed truss indicates that it was unheated. A rear left wing at right angles to the lower end is a 2-storey C16 solar wing, it was not clear at the time of survey (1986) whether this wing had ever been heated. The flooring of the hall may have taken place as late as the C17, with an axial hall stack inserted backing on to a through passage, but was probably prior to the addition of a 2-storey porch and a rear stair wing opposed to the porch. The plan as it was at the end of the C17 is largely intact: 2 rooms and a through passage; 2 storey porch; rear stair wing and rear left solar wing. There have been some subsequent additions at the rear. 2 storeys. 1:1:1 window front with an approximately central 2-storey gabled porch with 2-centred arch outer doorway and a canted timber cornice of an oriel which has been removed. Modern casement windows throughout, the ground floor windows recent plastic replacements. The left end wall is buttressed and the ground falls away at that end. Interior The medieval hall roof exists below a later roof and has been truncated above collar level. Nevertheless, it is an outstanding survival. The feet of the principal rafters are plastered over in the upstairs rooms and the possibility that they may be base crucks should not be discounted. There are 7 smoke-blackened trusses, very closely-spaced (about 65"), alternating between conventional arch braced trusses of massive scantling with cranked collars and butt purlins, and intermediate trusses which are also arch braced but with the rafters collars oversailing the principal rafters. Originally there was some form of superstructure above the collars of the intermediate trusses as the top edge of each collar has 4 mortices (2 to the left and 2 to the right of the collar apex). The right hand truss (at the higher end of the hall) has plain arch braces and is not sooted on the right side. The subsequent trusses have chamfered arch braces. 1 wind brace survives. The extreme left hand truss appears to have been a closed truss and is sooted on the right hand side only. It is different in design from the others with the principal rafters jointed into the soffit of a straight collar, straight braces between the rafters and collar and 3 pegholes on the collar soffit, presumably for infilling which no longer exists. This is an exceptionally important medieval roof. The solar wing has a roof of jointed cruck construction, apex not inspected. The C17 hall is surprisingly plain. The axial beam is moulded on the front side and chamfered to the rear wall, C20 grate possibly concealing an earlier fireplace. The lower end has a massive blocked fireplace of uncertain date and is paved with local limestone. The ground floor of the solar wing has deeply-chamfered cross beams with step stops; a deep cupboard in the thickness of the party wall with the lower end room may indicate the position of a former stack or stair, possibly a rear lateral stack to the lower end, later replaced by the present gable end stack. The C17 porch has a moulded plaster cornice and stone corbels; the room over the porch has a splendid enriched rib coved plaster ceiling(Period Two, French) with small pendants at the intersections of the geometric design, floral sprays and a frieze of gryphons. The design and the workmanship are sophisticated. The framed stair has oak treads and C18 plain, rectangular section balusters. The house is sited high above the farmyard, gable end to the road with a flight of semi-circular stone steps leading up to the garden gate. The steps are included in the listing. Bellamarsh Barton is recorded in 1242 as Beldemerse (Harris). A large mill was formerly associated with the house and was the scene of bread riots during the Napoleonic wars. Thomas Campion, a blacksmith from Ilsington was deemed to have been the leader of the riot and his execution, said to have taken place at Bellamarsh in 1795 was the last public hanging in the country. The mill has been demolished since 1952. Notable plasterwork and an exeptional roof make Bellamarsh Barton a house of outstanding importance.

Harris, R., King's Teignton: a parish history, (c.1976), p.35.

Listing NGR: SX8530477257

External Links

• Wikidata Q17535222

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