Description

SX 79 SW DREWSTEIGNTON

5/55 Preston Farmhouse

20.2.52

GV II*

Farmhouse. Early-mid C17 (maybe older in parts), mid-late C17 kitchen block,
service end modernised in C19 and C20 extension. Plastered cob on stone rubble
footings; granite stacks, one with a granite ashlar chimneyshaft, the others topped
with brick, and hall has granite ashlar stack with weathered offsets and unusualy
tall granite ashlar chimneyshaft with chamfered coping; thatch roof.
Plan and development: L-shaped house. The main block faces south and has a 3-room-
and-through-passage plan. The inner room (a kind of half basement or cellar) at the
left (west) end and now has an end stack. The hall has a large projecting front
lateral stack (an unusual feature for this part of Devon) and has a broad newel
stair projecting to rear. The passage and service end room have been knocked
together, probably in the C19 when this end was refurbished. It has an end stack
and was probably a parlour. A kitchen block projects at right angles to rear of the
service end room and has a large outer lateral stack. The 2-storey outshots to rear
of the hall and inner room are C17 and, if not original, were added soon after the
house was built. The main part of the roofspace was inaccessible and therefore it
was not possible at the time of this survey to ascertain whether or not the main
block retains any evidence of late medieval origins. Otherwise the main block
appears to be a single phase early-mid C17 build. The kitchen block was added later
in the C17. At the left end of the--main block a probably C19 outshot has been
converted to an office and at the right end is a circa 1970 flat-roofed extension.
The inner room unit, most unusually, is 3 storeys, the rest is 2 storeys.
Exterior: irregular 4-window front of C19 and C20 casements, the oldest one
containing rectangular panes of leaded glass, the rest with glazing bars. Front
passage doorway is immediately right of the hall stack and it now contains a C20
part-glazed and panelled door behind contemporary brick porch with gabled slate
roof. The tall steeply-pitched roof is hipped to right and gable-ended to left.
Good and well-preserved interior. The hall is very impressive for a house of this
size. There are tall oak plank-and-muntin screens each end. The upper end one has
chamfered muntins with scroll stops above bench level and the head beam is enriched
with a carved frieze of twisted bead and ribbon; the lower screen is exposed only on
the passage side. The large hall fireplace is granite ashlar with an ogee-moulded
oak lintel. The glory of this room, however, is the fine 9-panel intersecting beam
ceiling. The beams are richly moulded and the exposed joists are also moulded with
bar-runout stops. The inner room has a plain-chamfered axial beam and a segmental-
headed doorframe through the rear wall. The service end room is largely the result
of the C19 refurbishment and no earlier detail shows. The kitchen has a plain
soffit-chamfered axial beam and the large fireplace has a plain oak lintel and a
side oven.
At the head of the newel stair a small round-headed oak doorframe leads to a chamber
over the outshot. The inner room chamber has 2 crossbeams (broad soffit chamfers
with step stops) and the fireplace is blocked by a C19 grate. The main crosswalls
on this floor are oak-framed and close-studded. The roof over the hall is
inaccessible but the bases of true cruck trusses show. The service end and kitchen
has a late C17 roof of A-frame trusses with peggedlap-jointed collars.
Preston is a most impressive farmhouse. It is surprisingly grand. The 3-storey
inner room end is most unusual and the high standard of craftsmanship in the hall is
particularly impressive.

Listing NGR: SX7497490379

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17537381

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.

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