East Down Farmhouse

Details

DUNSFORD SX 88 SW

2/5 East Down Farmhouse - 7.4.82 II

Farmhouse. Late medieval origins, C17 remodelling and extension, C20 renovations. Whitewashed rendered cob on stone rubble footings, thatched roof, half-hipped at left end, gabled at right end, thatch replaced with corrugated asbestos to the front of the main range ridge. Axial granite stack with granite cap, gable end stack to wing. The present plan is 3 rooms and a through passage with a rear wing behind the hall, and an outbuilding adjoining the main range at the lower right end. The core of the house was a medieval 2-bay open hall, remodelled and extended in the Cl7 when the open hall was ceiled over and the axial stack inserted, backing on to a through passage. The left-hand medieval roof truss at the higher end of the hall was replaced and the left-hand end of the roof raised. A lower end room was added, unheated, and possibly used for storage. There is evidence of a former newel stair, modified at a later date, to the rear of the hall. The rear kitchen wing may have been added later in the C17, confining services to the rear of the house and changing the status of the hall/kitchen to a hall/parlour. 2 storeys. Long irregular 6-window front, the first window from the left a raking dormer. Doorway into passage on front left of centre under a timber lintel, further doorway on front to right of centre with a timber lintel. Various 2- and 3-light casements, probably C19 or earlier, with glazing bars, 1 small window to the left of the through passage doorway. The outbuilding at the right end has a loft entrance and a ground floor doorway flanked by buttresses. A change in plane on the front at the left marks the C17 modification of the medieval building. The rear elevation of the house is particularly attactive with a 2-light timber mullioned window first floor rear left, a stair turret with rounded corner and a small 2-light timber mullioned window in the angle between the rear wing and rear left of the house. The rear wing has a projecting gable end stack and a good oak ovolo-moulded 3-light mullioned window on the first floor. To the rear right of the house the thatch is brought down as an open-fronted pentice on rough granite monoliths. Interior The medieval roof survives in part and the interior is rich in early and late C17 features. The medieval roof-consists of one smoke-blackened jointed cruck truss, the collar removed when the stack was inserted, and a jointed hip cruck at the higher end, the base of which is visible on the ground floor. Smoke-blackened rafters and thatch survive, the thatch laid on an arrangement of twigs rather than the more common battens. The apex of the cruck truss is concealed by the stack. The lower end room has a probably early C17 pegged truss with no sooting. The C17 features are of a high quality: the hall stack is granite ashlar with jambs of single pieces of granite and a lintel with a narrow chamfer. The partition wall between passage and hall which is not taken up by the hall stack is a plank and muntin screen. A second screen at the inner end of the hall has chamfered muntins with step stops at hall bench level and a top rail with a cyma reversa moulding: a square- headed doorway in the screen leads into the inner room. The hall has moulded cross beams with deep step stops and a similar half-beam against the stack; doorways on the rear wall of the hall lead to the rear wing (right)and the stair (left). The right- hand door has chamfered jambs and a cambered chamfered lintel. A niche with a brick lined drain, or possibly flue, on the front wall of the hall in a window recess is of unknown function. The inner room has 2 chamfered cross beams with step stops. The rear kitchen has an open fireplace with a chamfered lintel and timber posts in front of the jambs; a chamfered cross beam with step stops and exposed joists. The winding timber stair with landing has a C17 cambered chamfered doorway to the first floor of the main range. The first floor has been modified in the late C20 with a rear corridor. The partition wall on the first floor between the left-hand and middle rooms consists of timber framing with heavy studs, unusual for the region. A fine example of a medieval house with a high status remodelling in the early C17, unusually rich in C17 joinery and carpentry. The hall is very complete.

Listing NGR: SX7823991116

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

399069

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.