Droridge

Details

DARTINGTON SX7861-SX7961 Droridge 13/92 9.2.61 II

House. Circa early C16 with circa mid C17 and late C17 rear wings; restored late C20. Roughcast stone rubble. Delabole slate roof with gabled ends. Rendered stone rubble front lateral stack and gable en d stack to rear wing. Plan: The plan of the original house is uncertain but it was certainly open to the roof from end to end and probably 3 rooms and a through passage divided by low screens; the lower end to the left. In the C17 it was probably reduced in length by the removal of the inner room of the higher end and truncating the lower end which may have been a shippon originally and which remains unheated. Probably at the same time the floors were inserted and a lateral stack was built at the front of the hall. Also in circa mid C17 a 2 storey kitchen wing was added to the rear of the lower end with a gable end stack and smoking chamber. In circa late C17 an unheated 2 storey wing was added to the rear of the higher end; the chamber above may have been heated but the corbelled gable end stack seems to be a later addition. The porch to the front of the passage is probably a late C17 or early C18 addition. In the late C20 the house was severely restored. The farm building at the lower end was probably added in the C18 or at least some time after the original lower gable end wall; the farm building is being converted into a separate house at the time of survey 1985. Exterior: 2 storeys. Asymmetrical approximately 3 window front. C20 1,2 and 3-light casement with glazing bars. Passage doorway to left of centre with a large chamfered shouldered wooden doorframe and heavy plank door with wrought iron hinges; within a porch which has rendered side walls, partly open front and a slate lean-to roof; inside the porch there are benches on the side walls. to right of porch a large projecting front lateral hall stack with set-offs. To right of the stack the hall window is a C20 3-light casement. To the left of the doorway the 2 windows in the lower room have C20 1 and 2-light casements and above there is a c19 3- light casement in a gabled half-dormer. A circa late Cl9 gabled full dormer in the roof above the porch. Rear: 2 gabled wings; the C17 right hand wing behind the lower end has a large projecting gable end stack with a rendered shaft with a tapered top, and to left of stack a large projecting smoking-chamber gabled at top and with small blocked opening. To left behind the higher end there is a later C17 wing with a possible later corbelled stack at the apex of the gable end with 2 rendered octagonal shafts and 2 windows on each floor with flat stone arches; the gable end is flanked by 2 slender buttresses with cut- offs. A later lean-to to the right of the higher end wing fills the space between the 2 wings and has a plank door in a cambered stone arch opening. C18/19 casements in the higher gable end of the main range; and a late C17 3-light casement on the higher side of the rear upper end wing. Interior: much restored in late C20. The partitions on either side of the passage appear to be C20, the ceilings are plastered over and some if not all the beams may have been replaced. The hall's front lateral fireplace and the gable end fireplace of the kitchen wing have replaced lintels, but the smoking chamber to the side of the kitchen fireplace is unaltered and has a corbelled stone roof. There is a small blocked window in the lower end wall on the ground floor of the main range. Roof: the medieval roof survives largely intact; most of the rafters have been replaced but the 6-bay roof has 7 smoke-blackened trusses; straight principals resting on the wall plates, only 3 have curved feet; the cranked collars are morticed to the principals which have mortice and tenon jointed apexes, the purlins are threaded but there seems to have been no ridge- piece. The second truss from the higher right end may have been a closed truss at one stage. The higher end truss is against the higher end wall and the lower end truss is very close to the lowered end wall and both trusses appear to be blackened on both sides but the end walls are both clean and therefore the house probably originally extended further at either end. The wing at the rear of the lower end has c17 trusses with halved and notched lap-jointed collars secured with large nails and not wooden pegs; it has butt purlins and possibly a threaded ridge-piece. The wing at the rear of the higher end has roof trusses with morticed apexes and collars lapped and mailed to the faces of the principals.

Listing NGR: SX7829561750

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

101004

Legacy System:

LBS

End of official list entry

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