Willis Farmhouse

Details

SS 90 NW BICKLEIGH 5/11 WillisFarmhouse 5.4.66 II* House, formerly farmhouse. Circa early C16 origins, remodelled in the late C16 and C17; late C20 renovations and left end addition. Whitewashed, rendered cob and stone; thatched roof, half-hipped at ends; projecting rear right lateral stack, axial stack, C20 rear left lateral stack. Plan: The house originated as a high status open hall of at least 3 bays, probably divided into 2 rooms by low screens with the principal room to the right. Variations in the character of the ceiling beams suggest that the lower (left) end was floored first, in the circa late C16 with a stack added at the left end of the lower end room. The right end may not have been floored until the C17 with a lateral stack added. The C17 plan was 3 rooms and a through passage. A small room adjoining the lower end at the left is probably a C17 addition but the dating and status of the unheated inner room is more problematic. Between 1961 and 1986 a 1 room plan extension was added at the left end giving an overall arrangement of 5 rooms and a through passage. An unusual feature is the relative sizes of the hall and lower end room, the former being smaller than the latter. The house retains a fine medieval roof between the axial (lower end) stack and a closed truss at the higher end of the hall complete with a smoke louvre above the hall. 2 storeys. Asymmetrical 6 window front, the eaves thatch eyebrowed over the first floor windows. C20 glazed front door with glazing bars to through passage to right of centre; large C20 stone porch with tiled roof to left of centre. 2 and 3-light C20 casements with glazing bars except for 1 C20 ground floor 1-light window with leaded panes. A rear outshut to the lower end has a thatched catslide roof, thatched C20 porch to rear door of through passage. Interior Good survival of C16 carpentry and joinery. Roof: The medieval smoke-blackened roof is of especial interest; it is of side-pegged jointed cruck construction with unusually wide bays between the 2 trusses and a closed truss at the higher right hand and of the hall with smoke-blackened plaster infill: the trusses have collars mortised into the principals which are mortised at the apex with a diagonally-set ridge and wind braces (2 braces missing). The rafters and battens survive complete with smoke-blackened thatch at the right end, the medieval thatch has been replaced at the left end. A remarkable survival of the roof is the medieval louvre arrangement which is adjacent to the lateral stack of the hall. A triangular piece of timber is fixed behind one of the rafters with a short piece of timber angled to a broad batten behind the next rafters forming an escape route for smoke from the open fire. This feature is associated with another structure which also appears to be connected with smoke control, although it is not clear whether the 2 features are separate. In place of 1 section of rafters and battens is a vertically-positioned square of wattle. The wattle has subsequently been plastered over and corresponds to a section of plastered over rafters and battens opposite, on the other side of the ridge. Could this have been a pair of gabled louvres, one on either side of the ridge, the one to the rear of the ridge largely intact, the louvre to the front of the ridge completely plastered over and possibly removed at a later date? Another unusual feature of the roof carpentry is the small holes, one through the centre of each collar of the 2 trusses, possibly associated with centreing the trusses during construction. On the ground floor there are plank and muntin screens to the passage : the screen to the hall has head-moulded muntins with some repair. The rear doorway to the passage has a massive oak round-headed doorframe. The hall has 1 deeply-moulded cross beam, a similar half-beam and a fireplace with hollow chamfered ashlar jambs and a chamfered stopped lintel. The lower end has a deeply-chamfered step-stopped cross beam and a large open fireplace with stone rubble jambs and a step-stopped lintel. Both fireplaces have bread ovens: the hall oven is incomplete, the lower end oven is brick-lined with an iron door. The position of the early stair is not clear, there is a C20 stair against the rear wall of the lower end room. A ground plan of the building by A. W. Everett, drawn in 1961 (D.R.0.) describes the inner room as possibly a buttery and marks a blocked doorway between the rear outshut and the lower end room on the rear wall of the room. An important medieval house with remarkable survivals in the roof. The shippon, barn and linhay adjoining the front right and at right angles to the house have been converted to separate accommodation and are not included in the listing.

Listing NGR: SS9416306748

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

96630

Legacy System:

LBS

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