Description

MAMHEAD
SX 97 NW

8/310 Pitt Farmhouse

11.11.52

  II

Farmhouse. Late C16/early C17 or earlier with alterations of the late C17/early C18
and renovations of the 1930s. Whitewashed rendered cob on stone rubble footings ;
wooden shingle roof (formerly thatched), gabled at ends ; end stacks, projecting rear
lateral stack.
Plan: The original plan seems to have been a 3 room and through passage arrangement
with a parlour at the lower (left) end, the hall heated by the rear lateral stack
with a newel stair adjacent to the stack and a kitchen at the right end. The plan
has been modified, probably as early as the late C17/early C18, with a small outshut
to the rear of the passage and a small service room taken out of the hall between the
hall and kitchen with an axial passage against the front wall linking haall and
kitchenn in front of the service room. The roof was probably raised at this period
and an axial passage created on the first floor after 1723. A service stair rising
in the kitchen, adjacent to the service room, is probably an early C19 addition.
Exterior: 2 storeys. Asymmetrical 5 window front with an open porch to left of
centre on cast iron columns with a porch room over and 3 gabled dormers to the right.
The room over the porch has a pretty C17 oriel window on moulded brackets with a
casement window with small leaded panes, wide timber front door. 3 and 4-light first
floor casements with square leaded panes, some repaired but probably C17 or early C18
in origin. 3 ground floor windows : 3-light C20 timber casements with glazing bars
flanking the porch and a 4-light window to the right with square leaded panes,
probably C17 or early C18. The rear elevation has a rear right brick lean-to with a
tiled roof and a small outshut at the rear of the cross passage.
Interior: Very unspoiled. The central room (the hall) has a chamfered step-stopped
crossbeam and a very pretty early C19 Gothick chimney-piece with quatrefoil
decoration. The left-hand room has a moulded cornice, which continues on either side
of a plastered-over crossbeam. Armorial bearings in plaster over the chimney-piece
with thhe initials I A and the date of 1723. Timber newel stair adjacent to stack
with a pretty, probably C17 2-light stair window with leaded panes. The first floor
retains plaster armorial bearings with the initials R A and the date 1723 on the rear
wall, presumably pre-dating the insertion of the axial passage.
Roof: At the right end of the house the remains of 2 late C16 or early C17 jointed
cruck trusses survive and the whole roof construction may have been of this design.
Only the feet of the crucks survive, new principal rafters of a late C17/early C18
character with lap dovetailed collars have been pegged on to the cruck feet,
presumably to give extra height. The first floor ceilings have been raised, partly
blocking C17 timber mullioned windows in the attic, but the attic must have beenn
used for accommodation or at least storage after the ceiling was raised as it retains
part of a substantial floor.
The house was the home of the Attwill family in the early C18 who also lived at
Mowlish and Newhouse (information in the possession of the owner).
A very unspoiled traditional farmhouse.

Listing NGR: SX9396779682

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26593075

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

• 
  Period property manual, victorian house manual 2 books collection set by ian rock
• 
  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability
• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  ENGLAND GUIDE TO POST WAR LISTED: A Guide to Post-war Listed Buildings
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)