Description

SAMPFORD COURTENAY HONEYCHURCH
SS 60 SW
5/168 Slade Farmhouse
II*
GV

Farmhouse. Circa aid C15 witn C17 and C19 alterations and additions. Rendered cob
and rubble walls, part of front wall rebuilt in C20 in brick. Gable ended
corrugated asbestos roof. Projecting front lateral stack of rubble with granite
ashlar quoins and tapering cap with moulded dripcourse. Brick shaft at right gable
end on stone base. Brick shaft to outshut at rear.
Plan: originally 3-room and through passage plan, lower end to the left has since
been demolished. The house almost certainly originated with an open hall which had
a central hearth but this could only be proved by the existence of smoke-blackened
roof timbers and there is at present no access to tile roof-space although it can be
seen that early timbers survive. The lower end may also have been open to the roof
but the inner room was almost certainly floored from tile start and reached from a
newel stair rising at the back of the hall towards the higher end. There may have
been an intermediate stage in tne C16 when the hall had a lateral fireplace inserted
but remained open to the roof and possibly at this time the inner room was upgraded
to a heated parlour. In the circa early C17 the hall was floored and a 2-storey
porch added at the front of the passage. In the C19 a rear outshut was added
destroying the stair projection behind the hall, the hall was reduced in size by the
insertion of a partition across it just below the fireplace and a new staircase
added adjoining this on the lower side. The date of the demolition of the lower end
is uncertain.
Exterior: 2 storeys. Asymmetrical 3-window front of mid-late C20 metal frame 3-
light casements. Gabled 2-storey C17 porch at left-hand end has 2-light early C20
casement. Built in front of it is a leanto glazed porch. Outshut extends along
rignt-hand end of rear wall.
Interior: at front of passage is original granite 4-centre arched doorway, richly
moulded. At the higher side of the passage part of a plank and muntin screen
survives with chamfered muntins and high hollow step stops. Above the screen is a
beam which has been shorn off but where it is complete at the front is richly
moulded. Chamfered half beam to lower side of passage with ogee stops. Where the
inserted stairs rise, visible on the first landing is a blocked original single
light wooden window with trefoiled head. The hall has a large granite-framed
fireplace with high lintel wnich is Hollow-chamfered as are the jambs. High up on
the wall to the left of it is a moulded piece of stone possibly intended to hold a
candle. At the rear of the hall, toward its higher end is tile original doorway to
the stairs which has a very unusual wooden frame with 4-centred bead, its chamfer is
decorated all the way around with high relief carved flower heads and 2 more obscure
motifs which may be initials. C17 plank door. 2 heavy cross beams survive which are
chamfered with notched stops. The inner room preserves half of a high quality
framed ceiling of richly moulded spine and cornice beams. It also has a blocked
granite framed fireplace. In the loft space above the rear outshut another original
window has been re-used in the end wall though bow blocked - it is 2-lights with
trefoil heads. This may have originated in the stair turret. Evidence of a
probably medieval wall painting was uncovered on the higher end wall of the hall
during recent renovation work - this may no longer survive on the ground floor but
was very likely to have continued further up where it may well still survive beneath
later plaster.
Roof: there is no access to the roof space but on the first floor the closely spaced
trusses can be seen to curve into the walls and they may extend down them
considerably, so it is likely that there are medieval timbers.
This is an important early house, obviously of considerable status and preserving
some good features of which its decorated timber doorway is a particularly unusual
ornate form. Other early features are probably still to be uncovered.

Listing NGR: SS6279002865

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17537685

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

• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings
• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)
• 
  Department for Communities Listed Historic Buildings of Northern Ireland: Information Guide for the 2nd Survey of Historic Buildings
• 
  Old House Care and Repair