Applehayes Farmhouse

Details

ST 11 NE CLAYHIDON APPLEHAYES LANE 2/18 Applehayes Farmhouse - - II Farmhouse. C16 with C17 and later alterations. Roughcast random rubble chert; gable end roof with asbestos tiles. A 4-room, through-passage plan house; the service end is to the left of the passage, and the fourth room beyond this may have been added to the more usual 3 room plan in the C17 when the rear wall was rebuilt (see Commander William's report, dated February 1983). The charring of the roof timbers in a recent fire make it impossible to determine whether or not the roof was originally smoke-blackened. There is a wing to the rear of the hall. Service end room and fourth room share the same axial stack; hall stack backs onto passage. End stack to wing. Recent end stack to previously unheated inner room. Brick shafts throughout, although the axial (hall) stack is largely of stone with weathering visible. Stairs to rear of hall, and front of service room. 2 storeys. Exterior Front: irregular fenestration; two 6-light C20 timber casement windows to first floor; ground floor with one C19 casement window to left-hand room; otherwise all windows C20. Glazed porch. Rear with leantos; some C19 casement windows to the wing, otherwise C20. Interior: The partition between hall and inner room has been removed; axial ceiling beam to inner room; chamfered cross ceiling beams with scroll stops to hall (that marking division between the 2 rooms chamfered to hall side only). Hall fireplace (like the service room fireplace) has chamfered posts instead of jambs, with half pyramid stops, which is an unusual feature. Plank and muntin screen between passage and service room, the chamfered muntins with scroll stops, those to the service room side set high to allow for a bench, now removed. The fourth room (now heated) may originally have been a granary; above the side oven there may have been a drying kiln (cf Shepherd's farmhouse, q.v.). Roof: probably C18 pegged timbers; between the service room and the outer fourth room are the remains of a jointed cruck. Commander Williams believed this to be face-pegged, but recent cleaning has revealed side pegs, and the face pegging is clearly repair work. Severe charring of this truss makes dating impossible. Historical note. Applehayes was for a time a country retreat for members of the Camden Town School of painters, who produced many studies of local places.

Listing NGR: ST1727915425

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

95675

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Williams, E H D, Report of the Somerset Vernacular Architecture Group in Report of the Somerset Vernacular Architecture Group, ()

End of official list entry

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