Description

WIDECOMBE-IN- SX 77 SW THE-MOOR 6/190 Lower Uppacott Farmhouse (formerly listed as Lower Uppacott Cottages 23.8.55 and barn attached) GV II

House, formerly a longhouse. Late medieval with later additions; rear wing probably added in C18. Granite rubble. Thatched roof, that of main range half- hipped; lean-tos at rear covered with real slates. On ridge of main range, off- centre to left, a granite ashlar chimneystack (heating former hall) with thatch weatherings and tapered top. Projecting from gable-wall of wing a granite stack with offsets, weatherings and plain top; quoins and shaft are of roughly squared granite blocks. C20 stone stack at rear of shippon. 3-room and through-passage plan with hall stack backing on to passage; former shippon to right. Rear wing at left-hand end. 2 storeys; lean-tos single-storeyed. 3-window front, the 2 right- hand windows in the former shippon; at left-hand end the thatch dips down to cover the upper storey completely. All windows have C19 or C20 small-paned wood casements. Doorway to passage has pent-roofed stone porch with old plank door; the roof now forms a catslide, but a photograph of 1950 shows a window above it. To right of the porch there was formerly a separate doorway to the shippon, of which only a straight joint now survives; a window has replaced it. To right of this window is a blocked ventilation slit. To right of this in turn is a stone lean-to with catslide roof; this too has been altered since 1950. In the lower, right-hand gable-wall, at ground-storey level, are 3 ventilation slits, now glazed. Interior: has stone-flagged floor to former through-passage; partition with former shippon has gone. Shippon is now a kitchen, but was still used for cattle (though with concrete feeding troughs) until mid C20. Floor-beams of loft above have mostly been renewed, but one heavy, rough beam remains. Back of hall stack facing through- passage is without architectural features, but contains some massive, roughly- dressed granite blocks. Against it is a chamfered half-beam, cut into to insert the slightly projecting back of the hall oven. Hall also has stone-flagged floor. Fireplace has plain granite jambs; chamfered wood lintel seems to be re-used, since the chamfer overruns the jambs. In the right-hand side is an oven with stone-framed opening having a slightly curved head. At back of fireplace, at left-hand side, is a flat-headed recess. Upper floor has no beams; just chamfered joists with step- stops, running from front to back wall. At the upper end the joists over the inner room project into the hall as a jetty, showing that the hall was originally open to the roof. The joists are plain on the inner-room side, but chamfered with run-out stops and curved ends on the hall side; the partition below is C20, but the original one had already been replaced before that. In the room over the hall, the wall with the room over the inner room contains a low plank-and-muntin partition with chamfered studs having run-out stops; the top rail seems to have been replaced. This partition must originally have stood on the end of the jetty so that it could be seen from the hall; it is now visible only at the east end of the wall, but a report of 1972 suggests that it formerly extended right across. The roof-truss over the hall has very slightly curved feet; it has through purlins and ridge, but there is no sign of a collar, although close inspection in the roof-space was not attempted. The truss, common rafters and underside of the thatch are smoke- blackened. According to the owner of the house the blackening continues over the inner room, suggesting that this too was single-storeyed originally. The roof trusses over the shippon are probably C18 or early C19, with threaded purlins and collars pegged to the faces of the principal rafters. There is a tie-beam truss buried in the back of the hall stack. The rear wing has a gable fireplace with plain granite lintel and monolithic granite jambs. Chamfered upper-floor beam with unusually deep and angled scroll-stop, similar to one at Dunstone Manor (q.v.). Sources: Information from the present owner. 1972 report by Miss E Gawne. Photograph in National Monuments Record, London.

Listing NGR: SX7014672843

External Links

• Wikidata Q26534747

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