Description

SHEEPWASH
SS 40 NE
7/86 Swaddicott Farmhouse
-
- II
Farmhouse. Circa mid C17 with C18 addition, modernised in late C20. Rendered cob
walls. Gable-ended tarred slate roof. 3 very fine and massive C17 sandstone ashlar
stacks with moulded cap and dripcourse - 2 axial and 1 projecting from the right
gable end.
Plan: 4-room-and-through-passge plan. To left of passage is large room - possibly
kitchen - heated by stack at its inner end, with dairy or service room beyond it.
Room to right of passage has stack in similar position but its purpose is unclear;
the room beyond it was probably a parlour and has an original outshut behind which
contains a straight run staircase. There is also an outshut behind the kitchen
which is either C17 or an C18 addition. Long C17 barn projecting from left end of
house.
Exterior: 2 storeys. Asymmetrical 6-window front of late C20 PVC 1, 2, and 3-light
casements. The 2 ground floor windows to the right retain their original chamfered
wooden lintels and stone hoodmoulds with labels. C19 or early C20 flat-roofed porch
with circa early C20 part-glazed door. Long barn projecting from left end of house
with hipped roof. It preserves 2 original slit openings with chamfered wooden
surrounds - 1 on the end wall towards the house and 1 on the long outer wall towards
the other end. It also has a C17 chamfered wooden doorframe on its inner face.
Rear elevation of house has 2 outshuts - 1 at left end and 1 towards right-hand end.
Interior: C17 chamfered wooden doorframe into left-hand end room on each floor.
The 2 central rooms have had the lintels to their fireplaces replaced but the
openings are original - that in the left-hand room is massive. 2 good moulded C17
doorframes survive - 1 into the right-hand room and 1 from it into the rear stair
projection - with ovolo and cyma moulding and unusual high relief carved stops. The
fireplace in this end room has an identically moulded lintel. On the 1st floor is
another simply chamfered doorframe and numerous C18 fielded 2 panel doors and C17
plank and panelled doors with moulded cover strips. Possibly C17 balustrade to
stairs which has chunky turned balusters and similar newel post with finial.
Roof trusses not fully accessible but feet of substantial straight principals
visible on 1st floor - those to rear outshuts have threaded purlins.
The interior of the barn has surprisingly well finished beams which are chamfered
and stopped.
From the quality of its surviving features this was evidently quite a high status
house and this is also reflected in its substantial appearance and spacious plan
form.

Listing NGR: SS4886307976

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26617865

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 by Hunt. Roger ( 2008 ) Hardcover
• 
  Worcestershire Revised Edition (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  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)
• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)