Description

HARTLAND SS 22 SE

4/124 East Philman -

- II

House formerly farmhouse. Circa 1500 with alterations probably in mid C17, C19 and C20 additions. Rendered rubble walls possibly incorporating some cob. Gable-ended asbestos slate roof. Rendered probably brick stack at left gable-end. Partly truncated rendered rubble lateral stack at front. Plan: original plan not entirely clear but at present consists of 2 rooms, the left-hand one heated by a stack on its end wall, the right-hand larger room with a fireplace on its front wall and adjoining window bay to its left. This right-hand room must have been the hall to the original house which was built open to the roof with a central hearth. The most confusing aspect of the plan is the lack of through-passage conventional to a building of this date. Although it could have existed between the 2 ground floor rooms the existence of a solid wall and close proximity of fireplace make it unlikely, supported by the presence of the hall bay between the two which is coeval with the C17 hall stack. All this points to the passage having been at the opposite, right-hand side of the hall stack which in fact has what was once a porch built onto its front wall. The right-hand end wall is a thick wall but this does not necessarily mean it originated as an outside wall viz. the thick wall dividing the 2 rooms which becomes a stud partition on the 1st floor and roof space. It follows then that the house formerly extended to the right with a lower end, which was demolished at an uncertain date, and the left-hand room was the inner room. What survives of the original house was open to the roof throughout, divided by low partitions of which the thick wall extending only upto head height between the 2 rooms may be a survivor. The undercorated lintel to the hall fireplace suggests a date well into the C17 for its insertion with the hall ceiling but this type of simple fireplace recurs throughout Hartland parish (sometimes appearing to pre-date the ceiling) and may be considerably earlier. The hall window projection at the higher side of the hall stack also appears to be a C17 feature found in early Hartland houses of this type. In the C19 a rear outshot was added and a C20 one built at the left-hand end of the house. Exterior: 2 storeys. Asymmetrical front with one 3-light C20 casement window on 1st floor and 2 late C20 casements without glazing bars on ground floor. The right- hand windows on each floor are in a shallow rectangular projection roughly at the centre of the front which also incorporates the hall stack to the right. Beyond this projection is a small 2 storey lean-to with window on the front which was formerly the porch. C20 lean-to against left-hand end of house with plank door at front C19 outshut against rear wall. Interior: hall has 2 heavy roughly chamfered unstopped ceiling beams. Open fireplace with plain wooden lintel and roughly dressed stone rubble jambs. Oven in left-hand side. Slate slab floor to left-hand room. Roof structure: pair of crucks over hall, the front blade with a peg visible low down on its face, morticed slightly cambered collar, threaded ridge and purlins and most of the original rafters surviving - all are smoke-blackened. The other truss over the left-hand room is a later one but the smoke-blackened rafters continue beyond it. Despite its unassuming external appearance this house is of considerable architectural interest preserving a considerable amount of its early fabric internally.

Listing NGR: SS2596722318

External Links

• Wikidata Q26617902

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Recommended Books

• 
  Northumberland (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2
• 
  Listed Buildings and Other Heritage Assets
• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)
• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Sussex: East with Brighton and Hove (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)