Churchwalls Farmhouse

Details

SAMPFORD PEVERELL ST 01 NW 4/134 Churchwalls Farmhouse - - II Farmhouse. Late C16 - early C17, refurbished in the late C17 - early C18. Plastered local chert rubble (south end wall is exposed), maybe cob in places; stone rubble stacks, the kitchen has its original stone rubble chimney shaft, the others are tall and built of plastered brick; slate roof, formerly thatch. Plan and development: L-plan building. The main block faces east-south-east, say east. It has a 3-room-and-through-passage plan. At the left (south) end there is an inner room kitchen with gable-end stack. The hall has an axial stack backing onto the passage and the lower end parlour has a gable-end stack. Narrow dairy to rear of the parlour. A secondary block projects forward at right angles from the left end (in front of the kitchen). This is C18 or C19 and was probably an agricultural outbuilding but has now been converted to a 2-room plan cottage. This block includes a through passage alongside the main house. The farmhouse appears to be a single phase house and despite its late medieval layout it seems probably that the hall was floored over from the beginning. The late C17-early C18 refurbishment was mainly concentrated on the lower end parlour which was rebuilt. At this time a narrow dairy was included, entered from the rear end of the passage. Also a stair was built from the parlour up to a 2-room bedchamber suite. The house and cottage are 2 storeys and there are C20 conservatories on the outer (south) side of the cottage block. Exterior: the main block has an irregular 4-window front of mostly C19 and C20 replacement casements with glazing bars. There are however 2 late C17 - early C18 oak-framed windows with flat-faced mullions, a small single light window to the hall (just left of the front-door) and a 4-light window first floor right end. The passage front doorway is right of centre and contains a C19 part-glazed 6-panel door with contemporary flat-roofed timber porch. The main roof is gable-ended. In the rear wall the service end dairy contains another late C17-early C18 2-light window containing rectangular panes of leaded glass and an iron casement with ornate wrought-iron catch. In the right end wall the dairy also contains an unglazed 4- light oak window with close set chamfered mullions. The cottage block contains C20 casements the latest of which have no glazing bars and it is gable-ended. Good interior: the partition along the lower (parlour) side of the passage is an oak plank-and-muntin screen containing a blocked Tudor arch doorway. There is another similar oak screen at the upper end of the hall. The carpenters assembly marks show on the hall side but the C19 doorway has cut away the head of the original doorframe. Both hall and kitchen crossbeams have deep soffit chamfers with step stops. Hall and kitchen fireplaces are blocked. The doorway from the kitchen to the cottage block passage is an original oak Tudor arch doorway, probably moved from the front or back of the passage. The roof over hall and kitchen is original and carried on clean side-pegged jointed cruck trusses. The parlour end is late C17-early C18. The doorway from the passage contains a fielded 2-panel door. The parlour is lined with moulded plaster panelling in 2 heights, there is a coved cornice and there is a bolection-moulded chimneypiece (there is another in the bedchamber above). Part of the oak framing between the 2 rooms of the former late Cl7-early C18 bedchamber suite is exposed on the first floor and it is lighter in scantling than the original work. Roof over this part contains an A-frame truss. This is an interesting and well-preserved single phase farmhouse with a late C17- early C18 parlour modernisation of surprisingly high quality for a farmhouse of this size.

Listing NGR: ST0467017167

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

95983

Legacy System:

LBS

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