Description

DOWN ST MARY
SS 70 SW
2/152 The Old Mill including studio
- adjoining the south-west

- II

House, former farmhouse and probably mill house. Probably early C16 with late C16
and C17 mprovements, modernised circa 1970. Plastered cob on rubble footings;
stone rubble stacks with 2 stone and 1 C20 brick chimney shafts; thatch roof.
3-room plan house facing south-east derived from original 3-room-and-through-
passage plan house with service end at right (north-eastern) end. Rear passage
doorway now blocked and lower passage screen removed. End stacks to former
service and inner rooms, the latter projecting, and axial hall stack backing onto
former passage. 2 storeys.
Irregular 4-window front comprising a variety of C19 and C20 casements with
glazing bars. First floor window right of centre has 1 light of leaded glass and
all upper windows have thatch eyebrows over. Passage door right of centre and
secondary door at left end now contains circa 1970 glazed doors. Roof is gable-
ended to left and hipped to right. Left (inner) room has a plastered shaft,
probably stone, and hall chimney shaft is original C17 of squared stone blocks
with shaped coping. Left end has inserted C20 windows and rear wall is now blind
at ground floor level.
Interior: the oldest structure is the roof but the roofspace is inaccessible and
most of the trusses are boxed into later partitions. Nevertheless what little
that can be seen suggests that the roof structure is wholly C16. The only exposed
truss is that over the inner room which is probably early C16, a jointed cruck
held together only by a pegged buried slip tenon. Elsewhere the purlins show and
those over the hall bay are chamfered with step stops, probably mid C16. Smoke-
blackening from original open heath fire is strongly suspected. Ground floor
rooms have late C16 and C17 features. Former inner room has a soffit-chamfered
and late step stopped crossbeam. The fireplace is blocked. The hall has a late
Cl6-early C17 crossbeam, broad soffit chamfer with step stops. Probably C17
rubble fireplace with oak lintel resting on oak pads and soffit roughly chamfered.
Oven doorway in rear. Oven projection would have blocked the putative passage.
Service end has probably C18 crossbeam with roughly-chamfered soffit. Fireplace
here is blocked.
Set back from front and adjoining south-west (inner room) end is a former shippon
with hayloft,now converted to studio/office. Built of rubble with slate roof
with 1-window front of C20 casements and C20 door at left end it is included in
the listing for group value.
Shown as South Yeo Mill on O.S map.

Listing NGR: SS7315004446

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26535323

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

• 
  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability
• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990: Updated version
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects, Supplement 2014
• 
  London 3: North West: North West v. 3 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)