Description

SS 81 SE CRUWYS MORCHARD VULSCOMBE LANE
2/94 Higher Vulscombe
-
II
Farmhouse. Probably a mid C18 remodelling of an earlier building. Whitewashed
rendered cob on stone rubble footings ; slate roof, gabled at ends; end stack with
brick shafts, end stack to wing.
Plan: L plan, the main range 2 rooms wide with narrow rear service rooms including a
former dairy in a 2-storey outshut. Central entrance into a lobby facing a door at
the bottom of the main stair which has a half-landing and divides into 3; 2 flights
giving access to the principal first floor rooms, the third flight rising to give
access to the attic rooms in the outshut. The ground floor rooms are heated from the
end stacks and the remains of a bread oven in the left end stack indicates that the
left hand room may have been used as a kitchen at one time. A 1 room plan front left
wing at right angles to the main range abuts it rather awkwardly - this too appears
to have served as a kitchen. Although the plan form is consistent with an C18 date
blocked windows and a doorway discovered at the right end of the main range during
re-rendering suggest an earlier core and the outshut and wing could be C18 additions
to an earlier, single depth building.
2 storeys. Symmetrical 3-bay front with a central C20 gabled brick porch and a
complete set of C19 2-light timber casements, 6 panes per light. The slate roof is
carried down as a catslide over the outshut which has timber casements and a blocked
rear doorway to the dairy.
Interior : The left hand room has a chamfered step-stopped cross beam. Other
interior features are C18 or C19 including open fireplaces with brick lintels and C18
and C19 joinery. The main stair has a handrail sunk in the wall. A straight service
stair leads from the kitchen wing to the first floor of the outshut. The roof
trusses of the main range are circa late C19/early C20 collar rafter with tie beams.
Over the wing the trusses have x apexes and are pegged indicating an C18 date.
An unspoiled farmhouse with a particularly interesting late vernacular plan form
linking the entrance to the stair and providing substantial service rooms and service
accommodation with separate access.
Higher Vulscombe is described as being first documented in the C18 in A Cruwys
Morchard Notebook, 1066-1874 (1939) by Margaret C.S. Cruwys.

Listing NGR: SS8904611920

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26552190

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

• 
  Georgian Style and Design for Contemporary Living
• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)
• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Building Small Projects (New Best of Fine Woodworking)
• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House