Description

NORTH MOLTON
SS 72 NE
14/124 Waterbrooks Farmhouse and garden
20.2.67 walls adjoining to south
II
Farmhouse. Mid C17 with some mid to late C19 additions. Minor mid-C20 alterations.
Rendered cob on coursed stone rubble plinth. Roughly dressed stone in plinth of
entrance bay. Uncoursed stone rubble alterations and additions. Gable-ended
asbestos-slate roof (formerly thatched). C17 dressed stone stack with weatherings
and cap, further stacks brick, one rendered.
Plan and development: C17 3-room baffle-entry plan, facing south, consisting of 2
rooms flanking axial stack with square entrance projection to front and square
staircase projecting to rear. Small unheated room to left-hand end. C19 additions
to right, with end stack, including outbuilding projecting at right angles to front
(with integral lateral stack). C19 lean-to additions to each gable end. Eaves
probably raised at same time. C20 alterations included conversion of outbuilding
into domestic accommodation. C20 internal alterations included removal of partition
wall between ground-floor room to left of stack and small left-hand end room. It
is possible that the house is a remodelling of a late Medieval building, retaining
some medieval fabric, but no evidence was noted at time of survey. If it is an
earlier house it has been thoroughly remodelled in the C17. 2-storeys with 1-storey
wing.
Exterior: C17 range to left with roughly-symmetrical fenestration of 4 windows to
first floor and 3 to ground floor; mostly late C17 or early C18 leaded mullioned
wooden windows with opening metal casements and wooden lintels, behind render
(resting on stone pads at each end). Later right-hand end with 2 windows to each
floor; 2- and 3-light small-paned wooden casements. Former outbuilding projecting to
front at right-hand end, with mid C20 fenstration. C19 lean-to addition to each
gable end, that to left with C20 boarded door and small leaded window to front and
that to right with 4-panelled door to side. Rear with 2 first-floor leaded wooden
casements to right (west) and staircase projection with small leaded window in right-
hand side.
C19 uncoursed sandstone rubble garden walls adjoining to front.
Interior: Ground-floor room to left of stack has C17 chamfered cross beam and wall
beams with runout stops. Partition wall between room to the left of the stack and
small left-hand room has been removed (see mortices of former stud wall on underside
of former wall beam). Open fireplace with dressed stone reveals, bread oven, and
chamfered wooden lintel with runout stops. Ground-floor room to right of stack has
cambered chamfered cross beam and wall beams with runout stops. C17 roof with
trusses consisting of straight principals and collars.
An old photograph (probably early C20) kept in the house at time of survey (September
1987) shows the house, including the outbuilding, with a thatched roof. It also
shows a thatched barn in front of the house, now demolished.
Formerly known as Lower Ley Farm.

Listing NGR: SS7633828508

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26509006

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

• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Staffordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cambridgeshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Gloucestershire 1: The Cotswolds: Cotswolds Pt. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)