Town Tenement Farmhouse

Details

CLYST HYDON ST 00 SW 2/32 Town Tenement Farmhouse - GV II*

Farmhouse. Early C16 with major later C16 and C17 improvements, some C19 modernisation. Plastered cob on stone rubble footings, much brick patching in the rear wall; stone rubble and cob stacks topped with c19 and C20 bitumen-brick; coated slate roof, formerly thatch. Plan and development: 3-room-and-through-passage plan house facing south-south- west, say south, and built on level ground. The left (west) end room is a small inner room parlour with a gable-end stack. Next to it is the former hall which has an axial stack backing onto the passage. The passage has been widened to accommodate the C19 stair at the expense of the lower end room which is now the kitchen and has a gable-end stack. In fact the present room functions are the result of the C19 modernisations. The original early C16 house was an open hall house. Only the inner room was floored over at the time and then the chamber jettied into the upper end of the hall. The inner room itself was slightly smaller and unheated; probably a dairy or buttery. The rest of the house was open to the roof, divided by low partitions and heated by an open hearth fire. The lower end appears to have been lengthened at an early stage since there are 2 phases of the smoke-blackened roof. Around the mid or late C16 an oak-framed fire hood or smoke bay was built over the hall fireplace backing onto the passage. The service end was probably floored over about the same time but there is no evidence of this since that end was much altered in the late c1? when the service end room was converted to a parlour with a new gable-end stack. The hall itself was floored over in the early - mid C17. it the same time that the parlour was built the smoke hood/smoke bay was replaced by a stone rubble stack and a new kitchen fireplace was built below. In the c19 a stair was inserted alongside the passage taking out part of the C17 parlour. It was probably at this time that the parlour was converted to kitchen use and the former hall/late C17 kitchen became the dining room. Also the inner room was given a stack and converted to a parlour. It was apparently enlarged by moving the upper hall partition to sit below the jetty bressumer. The farmhouse is 2 storeys with C19 lean-to outshots across the rear. Exterior: irregular 5-window front of C19 and C20 casements, most without glazing bars. The passage front doorway is right of centre and it contains a late C19 - early C20 part-glazed 4-panel door. The roof is gable-ended. Interior: is well preserved and includes features from all the main building phases. The passage was lined both sides with oak plank-and-muntin screens. The screen on the lower side is of uncertain date since most of the planks and muntins were removed in the C19 when the present staircase was inserted. The upper side screen is much better preserved and it is an original low partition screen. The hall stack was built behind it. The lower end room, the C17 parlour/present kitchen, has late C17 crossbeam and half beams; they are chamfered with bar roll stops. The fireplace here is blocked although its chamfered and scroll-stopped oak lintel shows. The cupboards alcove to right was built for a newel stair. In the hall the early - mid C17 crossbeam has deep chamfers and pyramid stops. In the back wall the beam is propped by a chamfered and scroll-stopped post. It is C17 but maybe secondary. An alcove in the back wall may represent the position of a former stair turret. The fireplace is late C17; it has local brick jambs and a chamfered and scroll-stopped oak lintel. It includes an oven. The back wall of the fireplace is stone rubble. It maybe earlier since the oak screen behind would have needed protection during the smoke hood/smoke bay phase. Part of the mid - late C16 oak- framed smoke hood/smoke bay survives at first floor level over the back wall of fireplace. The studs have individual holes drilled in their sides to take individual lathes and provide a ladder backing for the cob infil. It is heavily sooted on the hall side. Unfortunately too little remains of the structure to enable a reconstruction of its original form. At the upper end of the hall is another original oak plank-and-muntin screen. The posts are chamfered with cut diagonal stops (the pointed arch is a C20 insertion). It appears that this screen was moved forward a short distance in the C19. There is no carpentry detail showing in the inner room. It probably had its ceiling raised in the C19. The roof was built in 2 phases. The original roof remains over the passage, hall and inner room. It is carried on side-pegged jointed crucks in which the cruck feet apparently descend right to the ground. There is an original closed truss between the hall and inner room chambers. The roof structure is clean on the inner room side. The rest is smoke-blackened from the original open hearth fire. The 2-bay section of the roof over the lower end has timbers of lighter scantling and there are minor constructional differences here. Nevertheless the whole structure is smoke-blackened. It must have been built before the smoke bay. Town Tenement is a good example of a multi-phase Devon farmhouse with late medieval origins.

Listing NGR: ST0336401485

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

86792

Legacy System:

LBS

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