Martins Farmhouse

Details

SX 69 SE DREWSTEIGNTON

4/49 Martins Farmhouse

II

Farmhouse. Mid C16 with late C16 and C17 improvements, one dated 1654, enlarged in C18; part-demolished, extensively rearranged with new extensions in the early C20. Most, including the early C20 front is of coursed blocks of massive granite ashlar, the rest is granite stone rubble with large dressed quoins and some brick dressing to rear; granite stacks with granite ashlar chimney shaft-; slate roof (the early part was originally thatch). Plan and devlopment: the house faces south-south-east, say south. Its plan is 3 rooms wide and 3 rooms deep. The narrower central front entrance hall is flanked by the principal sitting rooms with gable-end stacks. 2 rooms behind also with end stacks and the main stair between them. To rear 3 unheated service rooms, the left one the present kitchen, the right one the former kitchen. The middle rooms are the historic core of a C16 and C17 4-room-and-through-passage plan house, maybe a Dartmoor longhouse. The left (western) room was formerly an inner room parlour. The middle room, now occupied by the present stair, was a small unheated dairy and the right room was the hall. The hall at least was originally open to the roof but this is not convincingly smoke-blackend. The former chamber over the dairy jetties into the upper end of the hall over what might have been an original low partition screen. The hall was floored in the mid C17, possibly associated with a date plaque of 1654. The hall stack is now an end stack but the cornice along the back shows that this was formerly an axial stack backing onto the through-passage. The passage and service end room or shippon were demolished in the early C20. The parlour was refurbished in the early C17. The right (eastern) room was a 1-room plan C18 rear block containing a stair. The rest was built in the early C20. 2 storeys thoughout. Exterior: 1:1:1 front. The outer bays are gabled and break forward. The gables have plain bargeboards and terracotta finials. The windows including ground floor canted bays now contain circa 1980 aluminium casements. The centre bay is C17, dated 1654. The doorway is a depressed 2-centred arch with an ovolo-moulded surround and lobed spandrels carved with leaves and fleur-de-lys. Directly above a date plaque stands proud and is inscribed 1654. Above that is a contemporary 4- light granite-mullioned window containing rectangular panes of leaded glass. These C17 features were erected here in the early C20, moved from the front of the passage or maybe from a porch there. Roof is gable-ended. The windows around the rest are C19 and C20 casements, the latest without glazing bars. The end of the hall has a timber door and window in Tudor style but early C20 in date. Good interior: to the older core. The features here are of superior quality. The large hall fireplace (mid or late C16) is built of granite ashlar and has a C19 side oven (probably a relining of a C17 oven since this was then the kitchen). At the upper end is an original oak plank-and-muntin screen with a moulded cornice, its muntins chamfered with step stops high enough to accommodate a bench below, and including a shoulder-headed doorway. There is evidence of an internal jetty this end. The mid C17 ceiling is a particularly fine example. The crossbeams have broad filletted ovolo mouldings with variant step stops. The exposed joists are also ovolo-moulded and have double-scroll stops. The parlour has a smart granite ashlar fireplace with an oak lintel; an ovolo surround with worn but some kind of pyramid stops. The crossbeam has deep soffit-chamfers with step stops and, to the former dairy/present stair, an oak plank-and-muntin screen, its muntins chamfered with step stops. It contains a band of ancient, probably C18, colour; a stencilled foliate and floral design of black and orange on a cream ground. The chamber above has a small granite fireplace with ovolo-moulded oak lintel. Roof structure over this section of side-pegged jointed cruck trusses which are not convincly smoke- blackened. The C18 extension roof of A-frame trusses with pegged and spiked lap- jointed collars. This farmhouse, despite its alterations contains a virtually complete section of a high quality C16 and C17 house. The hall particularly is most impressive.

Listing NGR: SX6843892864

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

94845

Legacy System:

LBS

End of official list entry

All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.