The Farmhouse, the Olde Dairy and Fir Tree Cottage

Details

HARBERTON

1309/1/387 THE FARMHOUSE, THE OLDE DAIRY AND FIR 09-FEB-61 TREE COTTAGE (Formerly listed as: WHITELEY FARMHOUSE) (Formerly listed as: WHITELEY)

II Farmhouse, C17 or earlier. Extended, probably in C18, and remodelled circa mid-C19 and late-C20.

MATERIALS: Rendered stone rubble with slate, cedar shingle and asbestos roofs. A rendered axial chimney stack to right of centre has thatch weathering.

PLAN: A long, single-depth range, of unknown original plan: the left-hand end is possibly the higher end of a three-room house, the lower end of which has been demolished but would have extended to the right. At the higher left end, a two-room addition with a central stair hall is probably of C18 date. There is a lateral stack at the rear of the earlier right end which may be the hall stack. At the rear right of the C18 extension, is a circa early/mid-C20 rear wing. At the rear left is a late-C20 wing. There are also C20 lean-to outshuts at the rear.

EXTERIOR: A two-storey, asymmetrically disposed range of approximately eight bays. At the lower right end, there is a C19 three-light casement with horizontal glazing bars. At first-floor left is a two-light casement with margin frames. A doorway to the left of the lower end has a rectangular six-pane fanlight in a heavy frame. At ground floor level there are three mid-C19 French windows with margin panes and intersecting glazing bars in round-arched fanlights. To the right are C20 metal frame windows in round-arched openings, and a central doorway with a C20 plank door, a semi-circular fanlight and a C20 porch. The first floor windows have margin panes and are set in gabled half dormers. To the rear of the lower end is a tendered stack with set-offs, C19 two and three-light casements with glazing bars, and a C20 outshut with a lean-to roof. At the rear of the higher end is a round-arched stair window with margin panes flanked by two C20 wings with a C20 lean-to between them. The roof is half-hipped at the lower right end and gabled at the left end. An axial stack and a left-hand gable end stack stand on the roof.

INTERIOR: Not inspected (2009). It is understood that the first floor of the lower right end has a passage along the rear with a plank partition and two-panel doors. The roof over the lower end has principal rafters with straight feet, morticed for a threaded ridge, threaded purlins and dovetail lap-jointed collars. There has been a fire at the higher left end and the principal rafters are cleared, their apexes are morticed and the collars are halved and pegged to the face of the principals.

HISTORY: This farmhouse was probably built in the C17 and stands in an isolated farmstead setting to the west of Totnes. It was extended, probably in the C18, and has undergone a degree of change since then, including sub-division. In the mid-C19 a railway line was built to the south. The building is shown on the Ordnance Survey Maps of 1887 and1906, although the footprint shows some alteration when compared to the modern map.

REASON FOR DESIGNATION The Farmhouse, The Olde Dairy and Fir Tree Cottage, Whiteley is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural Value: Although it has undergone sub-division, alterations and extensions, the building remains a substantial C17 farmhouse constructed in vernacular materials. Historic Interest: The growth and development of the house can be read in the surviving elements

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

101293

Legacy System:

LBS

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