Description

OTTERTON CHURCH HILL, Otterton
SY 0885
3/146 Barton Farmhouse

GV II
House, former farmhouse, probably monastic origins. Early C16, radically
refurbished and rearranged circa 1850. Plastered stone rubble raised with C19
brick; stone rubble and brick stacks topped with C19 brick and including some Rolle
Estate chimney pots; slate roof.
Double depth plan house facing south-west. The main 3 rooms are on the front with
narrower service rooms to rear. Cross passage between centre and left rooms to
stairs in rear part. The left room has an end stack and there is a large axial
stack between the other 2. The right room was the kitchen. Low range of stores at
right angles to rear of left end and outshot across rear added in 1985.
Contemporary porch on right end. 2 storeys.
Irregular 4-window front of C19 casements with glazing bars and contemporary front
door left of centre. Roof half-hipped each end.
Interior is nearly all the result of the C19 refurbishment. The only feature which
may be earlier is the fireplace of the middle room. It is blocked by a C19
fireplace but the original was apparently very large. The kitchen fireplace backing
on to this one is C19, built of brick with a reused oak beam as the lintel.
Throughout the rest of the house the joinery detail is consistently mid C19 so to is
the king post truss roof. However, on the first floor and in the roof, there is
evidence of the original house. It had stone rubble walls which still survive on
the long sides to its full height. On the north-west end is the gable but not the
other end. The walls were raised approximately 2m in the C19. The original 5-bay
roof also survives but the trusses have been cut off just below collar level. They
are true cruck trusses of enormous scantling with the remains of chamfered
archbraces and windbraces. Other contemporary features may be concealed in the
outer walls.
Barton Farmhouse is interesting because of the partial survival of the early C16
building. This is intriguing. The standard of carpentry suggests it was a house
but if so evidence of smoke-blackening may be expected. Possibly the house was
built originally as a barn belonging to the monastry which occupied the site of the
adjacent churchyard before the Dissolution.

Listing NGR: SY0796385136

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26618747

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
• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
• 
  Liverpool: Pevsner City Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cambridgeshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 3: North West: North West v. 3 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)