Description

DUNSFORD BUTTS, (south side), Dunsford SX 88 NW

6/45 Old Cawte Farmhouse and wall to the north west 11.11.52 (formerly listed as Court Farmhouse)

GV II -

House and adjoining wall. House possibly early C16 in origin with late C16 and mid/late C17 alterations, C20 renovations. Whitewashed rendered cob and stone rubble; thatched roof, gabled at left end, half-hipped at right end; projecting left end stack with brick shaft, projecting granite ashlar stack with set-offs, tall granite shaft and cap on front wall at right. Single depth 2-room main range with heated rooms on either side of a passage (formerly a through passage). The right-hand room, heated from the front lateral stack appears to have been the late C16 hall, the left-hand room, probably originally the lower end, is a circa mid to late C17 parlour although clearly used as a kitchen in the C19. There is an unheated rear right wing adjoining the higher (right) end which has some stone rubble wailing and may have been partly or wholly rebuilt. The roof truss over the lower end appears to pre-date the truss over the higher end, and may be late medieval in origin. The evolution of the house is clearly complex. A possible sequence of development is an open hall 2-room house of the early C16 (although without access to the roofspace at time of survey (1985) this remains unproven) remodelled in the late C16 as a 2-storey 2- or 3-room plan, the hall heated from the lateral stack and possibly with a parlour wing at the rear. The next phase appears to have been the refurbishing of the lower end as a circa mid to late C17 parlour, the roof over the higher end may have been rebuilt at the same time. The position of the kitchen at this date is uncertain and it may have been detached. The rear wing appears to have been partly rebuilt in the C19. 2 storeys. Nearly symmetrical 3-window front, the eaves thatch eyebrowed over the 2 outer windows and rising as a gabled dormer in the centre. Fine projecting granite ashlar stack heating hall to right of the doorway to the passage; the doorway has an old pegged doorframe and 3 granite steps in front. Fenestration of 2-light C20 windows with diamond-leaded panes; small timber stair window to ground floor left constructed out of a single piece of timber. Projecting semi-circular stone rubble bread oven at left gable end. Interior high quality C16 and C17 interior features, including a fine oak plank and muntin screen to the left (lower end) of the passage, the muntins chamfered with bar stops on both sides of the screen which has an inserted C20 door. The C17 parlour (to the left) has a chamferedcross beam with elaborate bar stops. The fireplace is partly blocked but has a chamfered timber lintel and chamfered timber jambs on stone rubble footings. Adjacent to the stack is a timber newel stair in a rounded internal stair turret. The hall(to the right of the passage) has a fine C16 granite fireplace(partly blocked) with a massive hollow-chamfered granite lintel and hollow- chamfered granite jambs. No access to roofspace at time of survey (1985) but the pegged collar rafter truss over the right end appears to be C17 with a cranked collar mortised into straight principal rafters. The truss over the left-hand end is a jointed cruck and is said to show evidence of smoke-blackening. A section of tall cob wall with tile capping adjoins the house at the north west. An evolved house with some fine C16 and C17 features.

Listing NGR: SX8114289147

External Links

• Wikidata Q26509831

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Recommended Books

• 
  England's Post-War Listed Buildings
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of Historic Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Warwickshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)