Description

PAYHEMBURY LOWER TALE
ST 00 SE
3/97 Lower Tale Cottage
-
GV II

Small farmhouse. Mid - late C19, modernised with an extension circa 1980.
Plastered cob on stone rubble footings; stone rubble or cob stacks topped with C19
and C20 brick; thatch roof.
Plan: the house faces south-west. It has a 3-room plan with through-passage. The
left (north-west) room is the former kitchen and has a gable-end stack. It is
separated from the parlour or hall by the passage. The passage rear doorway is now
blocked. The parlour has an axial stack backing onto the passage and winder stair
to rear. At the right (south-east) end is a small unheated service room, probably a
dairy or buttery originally. Although the plan suggests C16 origins as some form of
open hall house there is no structural evidence exposed that early.
It appears to be a single phase mid - late C17 house. 2 storeys with circa 1980
single storey extension on the left end.
Exterior: irregular 3-window front with fourth ground floor window to the
extension, all circa 1980 uPVC casements with glazing bars. The passage front
doorway is left of centre and contains a circa 1980 part-glazed door behind a
contemporary thatch-roofed porch. The main roof is gable-ended to left and half-
hipped to right.
Interior: is well-preserved and most of the features are C17. In the former
kitchen the fireplace is blocked. The crossbeam here is chamfered with straight cut
stops. The parlour/hall has an axial beam; chamfered with scroll stops. The
fireplace here is plastered with an oak lintel which is finished in an unusual way.
It contains a recessed panel with chamfered edges over the hearth and along the top
of the lintel is a shallow bead moulding. The roof was not available for inspection
at the time of this survey but is said to include probably original A-frame trusses.

Listing NGR: ST0677501906

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26596125

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 Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Georgian Style and Design for Contemporary Living
• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings