Pitt Farmhouse

Details

MAMHEAD SX 97 NW

8/310 Pitt Farmhouse

11.11.52

  II

Farmhouse. Late C16/early C17 or earlier with alterations of the late C17/early C18 and renovations of the 1930s. Whitewashed rendered cob on stone rubble footings ; wooden shingle roof (formerly thatched), gabled at ends ; end stacks, projecting rear lateral stack. Plan: The original plan seems to have been a 3 room and through passage arrangement with a parlour at the lower (left) end, the hall heated by the rear lateral stack with a newel stair adjacent to the stack and a kitchen at the right end. The plan has been modified, probably as early as the late C17/early C18, with a small outshut to the rear of the passage and a small service room taken out of the hall between the hall and kitchen with an axial passage against the front wall linking haall and kitchenn in front of the service room. The roof was probably raised at this period and an axial passage created on the first floor after 1723. A service stair rising in the kitchen, adjacent to the service room, is probably an early C19 addition. Exterior: 2 storeys. Asymmetrical 5 window front with an open porch to left of centre on cast iron columns with a porch room over and 3 gabled dormers to the right. The room over the porch has a pretty C17 oriel window on moulded brackets with a casement window with small leaded panes, wide timber front door. 3 and 4-light first floor casements with square leaded panes, some repaired but probably C17 or early C18 in origin. 3 ground floor windows : 3-light C20 timber casements with glazing bars flanking the porch and a 4-light window to the right with square leaded panes, probably C17 or early C18. The rear elevation has a rear right brick lean-to with a tiled roof and a small outshut at the rear of the cross passage. Interior: Very unspoiled. The central room (the hall) has a chamfered step-stopped crossbeam and a very pretty early C19 Gothick chimney-piece with quatrefoil decoration. The left-hand room has a moulded cornice, which continues on either side of a plastered-over crossbeam. Armorial bearings in plaster over the chimney-piece with thhe initials I A and the date of 1723. Timber newel stair adjacent to stack with a pretty, probably C17 2-light stair window with leaded panes. The first floor retains plaster armorial bearings with the initials R A and the date 1723 on the rear wall, presumably pre-dating the insertion of the axial passage. Roof: At the right end of the house the remains of 2 late C16 or early C17 jointed cruck trusses survive and the whole roof construction may have been of this design. Only the feet of the crucks survive, new principal rafters of a late C17/early C18 character with lap dovetailed collars have been pegged on to the cruck feet, presumably to give extra height. The first floor ceilings have been raised, partly blocking C17 timber mullioned windows in the attic, but the attic must have beenn used for accommodation or at least storage after the ceiling was raised as it retains part of a substantial floor. The house was the home of the Attwill family in the early C18 who also lived at Mowlish and Newhouse (information in the possession of the owner). A very unspoiled traditional farmhouse.

Listing NGR: SX9396779682

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

85958

Legacy System:

LBS

End of official list entry

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