Description

SX 69 SE DREWSTEIGNTON

4/49 Martins Farmhouse

II

Farmhouse. Mid C16 with late C16 and C17 improvements, one dated 1654, enlarged in
C18; part-demolished, extensively rearranged with new extensions in the early C20.
Most, including the early C20 front is of coursed blocks of massive granite ashlar,
the rest is granite stone rubble with large dressed quoins and some brick dressing
to rear; granite stacks with granite ashlar chimney shaft-; slate roof (the early
part was originally thatch).
Plan and devlopment: the house faces south-south-east, say south. Its plan is 3
rooms wide and 3 rooms deep. The narrower central front entrance hall is flanked by
the principal sitting rooms with gable-end stacks. 2 rooms behind also with end
stacks and the main stair between them. To rear 3 unheated service rooms, the left
one the present kitchen, the right one the former kitchen. The middle rooms are the
historic core of a C16 and C17 4-room-and-through-passage plan house, maybe a
Dartmoor longhouse. The left (western) room was formerly an inner room parlour.
The middle room, now occupied by the present stair, was a small unheated dairy and
the right room was the hall. The hall at least was originally open to the roof but
this is not convincingly smoke-blackend. The former chamber over the dairy jetties
into the upper end of the hall over what might have been an original low partition
screen. The hall was floored in the mid C17, possibly associated with a date plaque
of 1654. The hall stack is now an end stack but the cornice along the back shows
that this was formerly an axial stack backing onto the through-passage. The passage
and service end room or shippon were demolished in the early C20. The parlour was
refurbished in the early C17. The right (eastern) room was a 1-room plan C18 rear
block containing a stair. The rest was built in the early C20. 2 storeys
thoughout.
Exterior: 1:1:1 front. The outer bays are gabled and break forward. The gables
have plain bargeboards and terracotta finials. The windows including ground floor
canted bays now contain circa 1980 aluminium casements. The centre bay is C17,
dated 1654. The doorway is a depressed 2-centred arch with an ovolo-moulded
surround and lobed spandrels carved with leaves and fleur-de-lys. Directly above a
date plaque stands proud and is inscribed 1654. Above that is a contemporary 4-
light granite-mullioned window containing rectangular panes of leaded glass. These
C17 features were erected here in the early C20, moved from the front of the passage
or maybe from a porch there. Roof is gable-ended. The windows around the rest are
C19 and C20 casements, the latest without glazing bars. The end of the hall has a
timber door and window in Tudor style but early C20 in date.
Good interior: to the older core. The features here are of superior quality. The
large hall fireplace (mid or late C16) is built of granite ashlar and has a C19 side
oven (probably a relining of a C17 oven since this was then the kitchen). At the
upper end is an original oak plank-and-muntin screen with a moulded cornice, its
muntins chamfered with step stops high enough to accommodate a bench below, and
including a shoulder-headed doorway. There is evidence of an internal jetty this
end. The mid C17 ceiling is a particularly fine example. The crossbeams have broad
filletted ovolo mouldings with variant step stops. The exposed joists are also
ovolo-moulded and have double-scroll stops. The parlour has a smart granite ashlar
fireplace with an oak lintel; an ovolo surround with worn but some kind of pyramid
stops. The crossbeam has deep soffit-chamfers with step stops and, to the former
dairy/present stair, an oak plank-and-muntin screen, its muntins chamfered with step
stops. It contains a band of ancient, probably C18, colour; a stencilled foliate
and floral design of black and orange on a cream ground. The chamber above has a
small granite fireplace with ovolo-moulded oak lintel. Roof structure over this
section of side-pegged jointed cruck trusses which are not convincly smoke-
blackened. The C18 extension roof of A-frame trusses with pegged and spiked lap-
jointed collars.
This farmhouse, despite its alterations contains a virtually complete section of a
high quality C16 and C17 house. The hall particularly is most impressive.

Listing NGR: SX6843892864

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26462486

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

• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cumbria: Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair by Hunt. Roger ( 2008 ) Hardcover
• 
  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability
• 
  Nottinghamshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)