Description

SWIMBRIDGE STOWFORD
SS 62 NW
11/203 West Stowford Cottage and
Pollys Cottage
GV
II

Farmhouse, later divided into 3 cottages and converted c.1970 into 2 occupations.
Probably early C16, remodelled and extended in C17 with further enlargement in C18
or C19. Whitewashed rendered stone and cob. Thatch roof. Tall rubble stack with
drip, tapered cap, and heightened in brick to rear of hall and tall lateral brick
stack to rear left end. Truncated rubble stack across rear right end corner.
Earliest fabric to right end, with hall and inner room formerly open to roof to
right of cross passage with stairs inserted. Left end, probably rebuilt and
enlarged in C17, was until c.1970 2 small 2-room cottages, now converted to one
occupation. 2 storeys, 7 window range. Left side has three 2-light casements, 2
panes per light and a 3-light window above five 2-light casements, the 2nd from
left inserted in former doorway. Three C19 3-light casements to right side, 6
panes per light. C20 ground floor fenestration. C16 4-centred arched timber
chamfered door surround with old ledged 4-plank door with cover strips. Interior,
mostly altered to left side. Brief inspection of roofspace suggested mainly C17
roof structure with no signs of smoke blackening; lap-jointed collars to straight
principal rafters. 2 tiers of purlins and ridge purlin and common rafters also
intact. The early features concentrated in right half. Hall had possible evidence
of jetty with plain chamfered beam at cross-passage end with C17 ovolo-moulded
bressumers laid. along side it and at inner end of hall with scratch crosses to the
scroll-stops. 4-centred arched door surround between hall and inner room with
chamfered durns and ledged 3-plank door. Cranked head to reset and largely renewed
door surround to inner room with 4-plank door. 5-light diamond timber mullion
window in opening which has been infilled on its outer face. A solid cob wall
rises to the apex of the roof at the lower end of the cross-passage, dividing the 2
occupations. 2 raised cruck trusses over hall and hall/inner room with 2 tiers of
threaded purlins and ridge purlins. Collars tenoned into soffit mortices to the
blades. Both trusses are closed, but smoke-blackening to all timbers of the roof
structure including common rafters and thatch extends the whole length of the hall
and inner room, becoming lighter over the latter. The rendering on the hall side
infill to the truss at the lower end is also heavily smoke-blackened above the
internal jetty, with some slight smoke-blackening on the hall side of the infill to
the hall/inner room truss.

Listing NGR: SS6256126507

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26603451

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

• 
  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Handbook 2 Books Bundle Collection (Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair,Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability)
• 
  For the Record
• 
  Derbyshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  England's Post-War Listed Buildings
• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)