Description

MOLLAND SOUTH DOWN LANE
SS 72 NE
14/92 Lower Hill Farmhouse and adjoining
- stable
II
Farmhouse and stable. Circa 1500-1550 with mid - C17 alterations. Minor C18 and
late C19 alterations and additions. Mid - C20 refenestration and reroofing. Coursed
stone rubble with some cob in front wall to left and right, and stable with rubble
ground floor and cob first floor (unrendered at time of survey - 20 July 1987).
Gable-ended corrugated-asbestos roofs (formerly thatched). Rendered stacks.
Plan and development: Three-room and cross-passage plan, formerly open to the roof
along its whole length. Consisting of central hall, with former cross passage and
service room to left (south-west) and inner room to right (north-east). C17
remodelling including, insertion of first floor, insertion of lateral stack to rear
of hall (possibly pre-dating the floor), and the inner room probably enlarged and
external end stack added at upper end. Lean-to dairy added at rear of upper room,
probably in the C18 and stable added at lower end (south-west) probably at the same
time. Dividing wall between cross passage and hall removed, probably in the C19, and
entrance blocked. New entrance created between hall and upper room, probably at the
same time, and staircase inserted too, rising up from the door. Probably C17 winder
staircase in projection at rear of lower room. Two storeys.
Exterior: Asymmetrical 4-window front; C20 two- and 3-light wooden casements. Third
ground-floor window from left has segmental stone-arched head. C20 half-glazed door
between first and second windows from right. Second window from left formerly cross-
passage doorway (see straight joists below). C20 half-glazed door to far left.
Stable adjoining to left with boarded left door to right, ground-floor boarded door
to right with old strap hinges and boarded hatch to left, also with old hinges.
Lean-to to left with pair of garage doors.
Interior of house: C17 scratch-moulded cambered cross beam and joists in hall; reused
chamfered cross beam (on edge) inserted to replace former wall/screen between cross
passage and hall. Blocked fireplace in rear wall and cupboards in wall opposite
former cross passage doorway, possibly inserted in opening of former rear doorway.
Hall window with jambs continuing down to floor level. Right-hand ground-floor room
has chamfered spine beam and blocked fireplace with unchamfered wooden lintel. Old
wooden winder staircase at rear of left-hand room. Cob walls between service room
and former cross passage and between hall and inserted staircase continue up into the
roofspace unblackened. Substantial remains of smoke-blacked later-Medieval roof with
2 (probably jointed) cruck trusses (at upper and lower ends of hall, trenched purlins
and diagonally-set ridge-piece. C20 roof construction above this. Interior of
stable with cobbled floor and wooden stalls.

Listing NGR: SS7961427690

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26508612

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

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  Harrow on the Hill: A photographic portrayal of listed buildings and structures (Historic Buildings Picture Guides)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Cornwall (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Old House Handbook 2 Books Bundle Collection (Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair,Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability)
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  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)