Description

SX 86 NE ABBOTSKERSWELL MAIN STREET
Abbotskerswell
3/14 Monk's Thatch
-
21.6.77
GV II
Farmhouse. Late C16 with C17 alterations, C18 wing and modernised in C20. Rendered
rubble walls. Thatched roof, half-hipped to lift end, gabled to right and to wing.
Central axial stone stack, offset from ridge, with dripcourse and brick shaft.
Brick stack to right-hand gable end and axial stack at rear of left-hand end where
it adjoins the wing.
3-room and through-passage plan, originally probably open to the roof with central
hearth, at least over the hall. Stack inserted in C17, backing onto the passage.
when the room was ceiled; the slight darkening of the timbers suggests that the hall
was open to the roof for only a relatively short period . At this stage newel
stairs were inserted at the rear of the hall in a projection and the rear wall of
the inner room was built out flush with it. Probably in C18, rear wing was added
behind lower end with barn beyond it, stack inserted at this end and also to inner
room. Modernised internally in C20 when the remains of a plank and muntin screen
beside hall stack were removed and probably a similar one at the lower side of the
passage. Newel stairs replaced with divided stairs, and passage partitioned off
from first floor rooms.
2 storeys. Asymmetrical 5 window front, 4 on ground floor. C20 2 and 3 light
casements with glazing bars in relatively small openings, first floor left-hand
window is late C20 4 light with single light window immediately to its right. C20
plank door to former passage to left of centre under thatched porch hood supported
on wooden posts at the front.
Interior: 1 ½ original roof trusses survive over the hall. The complete one
consists of substantial straight principals morticed at the apex with threaded
purlins, diagonal ridge and collar halved onto principals. This truss is over the
centre of the hall; rising directly next to the hall stack is 1 similar principal
rafter which has been cut off at the top, its opposite member was presumably
superceded by the hall stack when it was inserted. All the original timbers and the
battens and thatch between them are darkened but not black. Otherwise by C20 roof
timbers.
The hall has a C16 plank and muntin screen at its higher end with chamfered head
beam and muntins which have diagonal cut stops.
A half-beam with mortices on its soffit at the lower end of the hall adjoining the
stack is evidence for a similar screen, since removed, which probably pre-dated the
hall stack. The hall fireplace has a chamfered wooden lintel which has been filled
in below on either side obscuring the stops. Chamfered cross beam with hollow step
stops.
This house preserves some interesting internal features and its traditional facade
in a very prominent roadside position contribute greatly to the character of the
main street.

Listing NGR: SX8551368933

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26618808

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

• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
• 
  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
• 
  [(Shropshire)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1958)
• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)