Upcott

Details

BROADWOODWIDGER SX 39 SE 5/45 Upcott (formerly listed as 23.8.57 Upcott Barton) GV II* Farmhouse. Late C15/early C16 or earlier with C19 rear addition. The main range is probably stone and whitewashed and rendered with a bitumen-painted slate roof gabled at ends and a similar hipped roof to the porch. Rendered stack at left gable end, rear right lateral stack to main range. The quality of the surviving details and what appears to be the stub of a crosswing wall at the left end suggests that the present house is a fragment of a larger building, possibly the parlour wing. The present plan is a single depth main range, 2-rooms wide with the principal room to the right heated from the rear lateral stack and divided from a smaller heated lower end room by a wide passage containing a stair. The principal room appears to be a complete early C16 room although the fine mullioned windows on the right gable end are an unusual feature and may perhaps have been resited. 8 roof trusses of an upper chamber, probably also early C16, survive. The porch is probably a late C17 addition and the original entrance to the range may have lead into the passage which contains a circa late C17 stair. A service room in a lean-to to the rear of the lower end may be an C18 addition, in the C19 a rear right wing was added providing additional accommodation to the rear of the hall. 2 storeys. Asymmetrical 4-window front with regular fenestration and a 2-storey porch with a hipped roof. To the right of the porch 1 first floor and 1 ground floor 4-light mullioned granite windows each with moulded mullions and architraves. Ground and first floor granite mullioned windows to the right return of the main range are similar but with king mullions and stanchions intact. Elsewhere the fenestration of the front elevation is 2-light casements, C19 and C20, with glazing bars. At the left end of the range the stub of what may have been a left crosswing wall survives. Interior The principal room has 2 chamfered stopped cross beams and a fireplace with hollow-chamfered jambs, and a hollow-chamferd segmental head. The gable end hall window contains a circa early C16 stained glass heraldic shield. The inner porch door which leads directly into the principal room is probably late C17 with cover strips, the door leading from the main room to the passage is an unusual late C17/early C18 board and batten door forming 2 panels between wide styles. A circa late C17/early C18 dog-leg stair in the passage has bobbin turned balusters, some replaced in the C19. The lower end room has a fireplace with a low chamfered stopped lintel, the jambs appear to have been rebuilt but retain traces of scratch mouldings. On the rear wall of the lower end room a high quality early C18 china cupboard without doors with a round-head and a timber keystone feature, is set into the wall. The cupboard partly blocks an extremely unusual 5-light window visible only from the rear lean-to, this consists of a 5-light window visible only from the rear lean-to, this consists of a 5-light stone mullioned all cut out of 1 slab of stone. The lights are narrow slits and the function of the window must have been for ventilation rather than lighting. Above this window on the first floor is an equally notable 4- light window the outer face of which is now in the roofspace of the lean-to. This window has 4 small trefoil-headed lights which are cut out of a single stone slab. The lights are flush on the inner face but recessed on the outer face with chamfered mullions. The inner face contains various holes, some with the stubs of wooden pegs presumably for shutters. The window may be C15 or C16 but could be earlier. 8 closely-spaced roof trusses are of a high quality of carpentry and probably C16 with chamfered principal rafters, the chamfer continued on cambered collars which are mortised into the principals. The principal rafters are mortised at the apex with a diagonally-set ridge and there are 2-tiers of trenched chamfered stopped purlins. Some early C18 2-panel doors survive on the first floor. An important survival of part of a high status early C16 house with some unusual stone and joinery details.

Listing NGR: SX3966790114

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

90747

Legacy System:

LBS

End of official list entry

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