Description

BRATTON CLOVELLY
SX 49 SE

7/11 South Reed Farmhouse

II

Farmhouse. Circa late C15 with C17 alterations and addition. Rendered cob and
stone rubble walls. Gable-ended corrugated iron roof. Axial granite ashlar stack
with dripstones and C19 rebuilt rubble and brick stack at gable end of wing.
Originally either 2- or 3-room and through passage or longhouse plan. The
demolition of the room below the passage prohibits an exact interpretation but the
siting of the original house down a slope and the rebuild of the lower end as an
outbuilding is suggestive of a longhouse. The hall at least was originally open to
the roof with a central hearth. A solid wall divides the hall and inner room and
there may originally have been no room beyond the hall, but the re-roofing of the
inner room in line with the cross wing precludes direct evidence of this and might
suggest the inner room is integral with the wing. The inner room appears always to
have been unheated. In the C17 the hall stack was added and the hall ceiled. A
wing was added at the front of the inner room in the circa mid C17 as a parlour,
heated by a gable end fireplace with a similarly heated chamber above. At this
stage the hall was probably relegated to kitchen status. The lower end was
demolished probably in the C19 if its rebuilding as outbuildings was contemporary.
2 storeys. Asymmetrical 2-window front with substantial wing projecting from right-
hand end and lower outbuilding extension at left-hand end. Early C20 casements,
those on the first floor are in small openings of 1-light to the left, 2-lights to
the right. On the ground floor is 2-light C19 small-paned casement to the left and
circa early C20 leanto porch in angle with wing to its right which has C20 glazed
door. On the inner face of the wing is 2-light circa early C20 small paned casement
on the ground floor to the right and a similar first floor window at the gable end.
Interior 2-bay roof over hall has 1 pair of curving trusses, whose feet are not
visible, with morticed chamfered arch-braced collar. Threaded purlins. 1 tier of
chamfered windbraces. All smoke-blackened.
The hall has 3 cross-beams, chamfered with ogee stops and unusual carved cross
before stops. The original fireplace opening is preserved but it has a replacement
wooden lintel. Oven in its left-hand side. Leading from the passage to the hall is
a chamfered wooden doorframe with cranked head which may pre-date the hall stack.
The passage has 2 chamfered cross-beams with indiscernible stops.
The parlour has 3 chamfered cross-beams with hollow step stops. Its fireplace has a
chamfered wooden lintel with diagonal stops and rough granite jambs. The room above
the parlour has a similar smaller fireplace with roughly chamfered granite jambs.
Dividing it from the chamber over the inner room is a timber framed partition.
This house preserves a section of good quality medieval roof and shows interesting
development in the C17 with the addition of a parlour wing.

Listing NGR: SX4963791918

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26611800

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

• 
  Staffordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Sussex: East with Brighton and Hove (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Care and Repair
• 
  London 1: The City of London: City of London v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
• 
  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)