Description

DUNSFORD
SX 88 SW

2/5 East Down Farmhouse
-
7.4.82 II

Farmhouse. Late medieval origins, C17 remodelling and extension, C20 renovations.
Whitewashed rendered cob on stone rubble footings, thatched roof, half-hipped at left
end, gabled at right end, thatch replaced with corrugated asbestos to the front of
the main range ridge. Axial granite stack with granite cap, gable end stack to wing.
The present plan is 3 rooms and a through passage with a rear wing behind the hall,
and an outbuilding adjoining the main range at the lower right end. The core of the
house was a medieval 2-bay open hall, remodelled and extended in the Cl7 when the
open hall was ceiled over and the axial stack inserted, backing on to a through
passage. The left-hand medieval roof truss at the higher end of the hall was
replaced and the left-hand end of the roof raised. A lower end room was added,
unheated, and possibly used for storage. There is evidence of a former newel stair,
modified at a later date, to the rear of the hall. The rear kitchen wing may have
been added later in the C17, confining services to the rear of the house and changing
the status of the hall/kitchen to a hall/parlour.
2 storeys. Long irregular 6-window front, the first window from the left a raking
dormer. Doorway into passage on front left of centre under a timber lintel, further
doorway on front to right of centre with a timber lintel. Various 2- and 3-light
casements, probably C19 or earlier, with glazing bars, 1 small window to the left of
the through passage doorway. The outbuilding at the right end has a loft entrance
and a ground floor doorway flanked by buttresses. A change in plane on the front at
the left marks the C17 modification of the medieval building. The rear elevation of
the house is particularly attactive with a 2-light timber mullioned window first
floor rear left, a stair turret with rounded corner and a small 2-light timber
mullioned window in the angle between the rear wing and rear left of the house. The
rear wing has a projecting gable end stack and a good oak ovolo-moulded 3-light
mullioned window on the first floor. To the rear right of the house the thatch is
brought down as an open-fronted pentice on rough granite monoliths.
Interior The medieval roof survives in part and the interior is rich in early and
late C17 features. The medieval roof-consists of one smoke-blackened jointed cruck
truss, the collar removed when the stack was inserted, and a jointed hip cruck at the
higher end, the base of which is visible on the ground floor. Smoke-blackened
rafters and thatch survive, the thatch laid on an arrangement of twigs rather than
the more common battens. The apex of the cruck truss is concealed by the stack. The
lower end room has a probably early C17 pegged truss with no sooting. The C17
features are of a high quality: the hall stack is granite ashlar with jambs of single
pieces of granite and a lintel with a narrow chamfer. The partition wall between
passage and hall which is not taken up by the hall stack is a plank and muntin
screen. A second screen at the inner end of the hall has chamfered muntins with step
stops at hall bench level and a top rail with a cyma reversa moulding: a square-
headed doorway in the screen leads into the inner room. The hall has moulded cross
beams with deep step stops and a similar half-beam against the stack; doorways on the
rear wall of the hall lead to the rear wing (right)and the stair (left). The right-
hand door has chamfered jambs and a cambered chamfered lintel. A niche with a brick
lined drain, or possibly flue, on the front wall of the hall in a window recess is of
unknown function. The inner room has 2 chamfered cross beams with step stops. The
rear kitchen has an open fireplace with a chamfered lintel and timber posts in front
of the jambs; a chamfered cross beam with step stops and exposed joists. The winding
timber stair with landing has a C17 cambered chamfered doorway to the first floor of
the main range. The first floor has been modified in the late C20 with a rear
corridor. The partition wall on the first floor between the left-hand and middle
rooms consists of timber framing with heavy studs, unusual for the region.
A fine example of a medieval house with a high status remodelling in the early C17,
unusually rich in C17 joinery and carpentry. The hall is very complete.

Listing NGR: SX7823991116

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26509196

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

• 
  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gloucestershire 1: The Cotswolds: Cotswolds Pt. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects by Harwood, Richard (2012) Paperback