Details
ST OO NE KENTISBEARE
8/90 Wood Barton
5.4.66
I
Farmhouse. Early to mid C14 with later alterations. Roughcast rubble to front,
roughcast cob on stone footings elsewhere. Hipped thatched roof.
Plan: probably a 3-room through-passage plan house, the service end to the left of
the passage. The hall and inner room occupy 4 bays, and were originally open to the
roof which is smoke blackened, more heavily at the lower end and rear. Service end
appears to have been heated by a stack from the beginning for the 2 bay roof is
clean. The building is of base cruck and crown post construction, the carpentry of
high quality. Considerable repairs to the roof appear to have taken place in the
C18 (see below) and the higher end gives every indication of having received its
inserted 1st floor and axial stack very late.
Dating: this type of roof structure is generally believed to be early to mid C14,
reflecting fashions prevalent in Court circles (c.f. Moorstone Barton, Halberton).
In the early C14 Wood Barton was owned by John de Gozan, and probably tenanted by
John ette Woods. In 1336 it was sold to William de Seyncler of Kingswood along with
the services of Walter ette Parke, carpenter. Too much should not be read into this
statement, but the presence of a working carpenter on site is suggestive. The
estate passed to the Whitguys in the 1350s. Such a brisk trade in property in the
mid C14 was often a reflection of vertine profits; certainly the Seyncler family
was actively engaged in the Hundred Years War.
Exterior front: 4 window range. 1st floor with 3- and 4-light C19 casement windows
under shallow eyebrow eaves. 4-light window to each of the principal ground floor
rooms; half-hipped thatched porch; doorway surround pegged; wide half-glazed door.
Higher end axial stack of brick; service end with lateral rendered stack, now partly
concealed by a later front wing (possibly C15), now with ovolo-moulded stone windows
which do not belong here, but were brought from another house.
Right-hand elevation: 1st floor with 4-light timber window, the mullions and
surround with an unusual concave moulding, possibly early C18, perhaps late C17.
C19 2-light casement window below.
Rear: eaves line slightly higher to service end; one 3-light C19 casement window
with leaded panes to 1st floor set in a larger enbrasure with chamfered surrounds.
Slated leantos throughout.
Interior: Service end room; lower end bressumer indicates the possible existence of
a now dismantled end stack. Present fireplace lintel chamfered with small stops and
notch. Brick jambs and back bake oven. Ceiling cross beams unchamfered.
Wing with 3 deeply chamfered ceiling cross beams. A doorframe, taken from the end
wall and reused at 1st floor level, with 2-centred arch with composite moulded
jambs; it looks early C16. Upper floor of wing heated by a fireplace inserted into
the rear of kitchen stack, with a reused ovolo moulded lintel.
Hall and inner room with late (i.e. C18) ceiling cross beams, and a recent brick
fireplace. The spere truss between hall/through passage and the service end is of
the dimensions as the 2 service end trusses. Above the site of the passage an
unusual arrangement is adopted to allow for the widening of the roof span over the
hall and inner room: the first intermediate bay (each bay is subdivided into 2 sub-
bays) windbrace is set diagonally, the first intermediate truss spanning the full
width of the hall. Otherwise the roof trusses with moulded arched braces, with
cusping above the collar, crenellated purlin between the 2 tiers of windbraces
(almost giving the impression of an arcade plate) and curved diagonal strutting.
The roof trusses have been drawn by J L Thorp.
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
Legacy System number:
95745
Legacy System:
LBS
End of official list entry
