Godford Cross

Details

The following building shall be added to the list:-

AWLISCOMBE ST 10 SW

1520/5/10000 Godford Cross

GV II

Farmhouse, later converted into 2 cottages. Late medieval, thoroughly updated late C16 or early C17; sub-divided and with additions at rear and to right in mid C19. Main building of rendered cob; additions in red brick. Slated roof; addition to right covered in corrugated iron. Rendered C19/C20 chimneys (probably of brick) at left end of ridge and off-centre to right. Plan. 2 room-and-through-passage; half stack backs on to passage. 3 small rooms at rear. Workshop range to right, at one time a post office. Exterior. 2 storeys; right-hand end of rear addition single- storeyed. Main range 3 windows wide. 4-panelled door, the bottom 2 panels flush, the top 2 glazed. Windows have 2 and 3- light wood casements, with 1 horizontal glazing-bar per light. Addition to right has 3 segmental-headed windows in ground storey, the 2 to left with 3 and 4-light wood casements. Upper storey has a single window, 5 panes wide and 2 panes high. In right end-wall is a postal wall-box, with simply the initials GR on the door. Left end-wall has old plank door with knocker and letterbox. Interior. Through-passage has stud-and-panel screen to left (adjoining lower room); chamfered studs with run-out stops, almost step-stones in places. 2 doorways at right-hand end, of different design but the same date; that to left with chamfered, square-headed surround; that to right, the stair door, with rebated surround having a cranked head. Rear doorway and doorway into hall have chamfered frames with cranked heads. Plank door with strap hinges into hall. Latter has deeply-chamfered beam with step-stops; complete set of original joists; half-beam against gable-wall. Wide hall fireplace with chamfered wood lintel; joists appear to have been rebuilt, that to left in wood, that to right in large squared stone blocks; oven in back, converted into cupboard. Staircase in rear left corner is enclosed by a C19 plank partition with moulded ribs; plank half- door with strap-hinges to cupboard under stairs. Disused joist slots suggest there was no C16/C17 stair in this position. Lower room has beam with shallow chamfer, originally laid cross-wise, boxed to axial position c1990. Partition with passage has squared studs this side, small gable-chimney, probably added in C19. stair removed c1990. Upper storey has doorway with chamfered frame and cranked head between rooms over passage and hall; old, studded plank door with strap-hinges and wooden latch. Rear left-hand room has mid C19 cast-iron grate in plain wood surround with bracketed shelf. 4-bay roof with 3 jointed-cruck trusses; hip cruck, its top now sawn off, at upper (right-hand) end. The 2 right-hand crucks are face-pegged, that to right with slip-tenon visible; cranked collars, 2 tiers of through-purlins, diagonal-set ridge of Alcock type B. Both trusses are heavily smoke-blackened on both sides. The left-hand of the 2 trusses has wattle-and-daub infill above the collar with plaster on the left side only; both sides are blackened and there are stake-holes for former infill below the collar. The implication of this is that the Medieval house was single-storeyed with open hearths in both rooms. The third, far left hand truss is clean with side-pegged jointed crucks, straight collar and apex of Alcock type F2. Its purlin at the front is a blackened, re-used partition beam with groove at the top and stake-holes on the underside; in the middle is the halving with peg-hole for a vertical stud. This may have belonged to the partition under the middle truss. Medieval houses of 2-room plan are very rare in Devon; the evidence for 2 open hearths gives this one added interest. The title map of 1840 shows it as still one house, owned by the Rev. E. W. Grinfield and occupied by Thomas Clapp; a person of the latter name is listed as a wheelwright in White's directory of 1850.

Listing NGR: ST1301602247

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

87187

Legacy System:

LBS

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