Higher Holbrook

Details

SX 99 SE CLYST HONITON

2/19 Higher Holbrook (formerly 11.11.52 listed as Holbrook Farmhouse and barn) - II

House, former farmhouse. Early C17 with late C17 refurbishment and late C19 modernisation; barn rebuilt circa 1980. Main walls of plastered cob on rubble footings, late C17 stair and dairy extension of late C17 brick and part of rear block rebuilt with late C17 brick-nogged timber framing; stone rubble stacks with late C19 brick chimney shafts; thatch roof, replaced with tile to former barn. L-shaped house with the main block facing south-west and having a 3-room and cross- passage plan. The inner room at the left (north-western) end has a slightly projecting end stack. The hall has a front projecting lateral stack and the service end room has a rear lateral stack. Both passage partitions have been removed. There is a contemporary 3-room rear block at right angles to rear of the service end room although the front partition has now been removed. The rear block fireplace backing onto the service end fireplace was rebuilt with late C19 brick. A stair turret in the angle of the 2 wings blocks the rear of the passage. A late C17 extension to rear of the inner room and overlapping the hall houses the main stair and a dairy. A former barn at right angles to the right (south-eastern) side of the rear block was rebuilt as a large parlour circa 1980. Main house is 2 storeys. Irregular 4-window front of circa 1984 casements with glazing bars. The ground floor left (inner room) has contemporary French windows. The ground floor windows all have low segmental arches over suggesting that the embrasures are built of brick. The front doorway lies right of centre and contains a late C19 4-panel door and overlight with glazing bars behind a C20 porch with hipped and thatch-roofed porch. The roof is gable-ended to left and hipped to right as it returns along the rear block. The outer (south-eastern) side of the rear block has an irregular 3- window front of C20 casements, most with glazing bars and a contemporary central door. There shows internally a blocked late C17 oak 3-light window with flat-faced mullions and internal ogee mouldings. The rear end of the rear block has a C17 7- light oak framed window with chamfered mullions and iron glazing bars, now reduced to 3-lights by the removal of alternate mullions. Above are 2 C19 horizontal- sliding sashes under half-hipped end of the roof. On the inner side of the rear block the roof is extended to form a pentice. Here there is another C17 4-light oak window frame with chamfered mullions and a timber-framed first floor. Interior: the structure is essentially early C17. The hall is ceiled by a series of upended joists which are thought to be original. It has a red conglomerate ashlar fireplace with a soffit-chamfered and scroll-stopped oak lintel. The rear wall has a late C17 cupboard with shaped shelves but missing its doors. The inner room shows only its late C19 finish. The service end room also has upended joist ceiling but here the joists are scratch-moulded. The fireplace here is limestone ashlar with an oak lintel which is soffit-chamfered with scroll stops and rests on oak pads. It has some curious blockings around the sides and rear and also hollows carved or worn on the chamfered sides, all of unknown function. In the rear block the kitchen fireplace is of late C19 brick, and all C17 features are hidden by C19 plaster. The winder stair to rear of the passage is probably late C17 since it rises from the corridor between rear and front blocks rather than rising from the cross passage. The late C17 main stair rises from the rear of the hall at its upper end. It is an open well stair with closed string, square newel posts, moulded flat handrail and turned balusters. Although some of the first floor crosswalls are probably early C17 the layout was adapted in the late C17 and most of the joinery detail is also late C17. There are lobbies on both stair heads and a corridor between. Most of the doors on this level are 2-panel and many are still hung on H-L hinges. The roof structure is early C17 and intact throughout both wings; A-frame trusses with low pegged lap-jointed collars to the main front wing and similar with higher collars to the rear wing. The trusses have carpenters assembly marks. The barn, though rebuilt, reuses its original C17 truss members in the present roof. A well-preserved C17 house with an unusual layout and good late C17 added detail.

Listing NGR: SX9940991954

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

352340

Legacy System:

LBS

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