Uplowman Court Farmhouse

Details

ST 01 NW
4/187
5.4.66

UPLOWMAN
UPLOWMAN
Uplowman Court Farmhouse


GII*
Farmhouse,former manor house.Late C13-early C14 origins but most is C16 and Cl7, modernised in the mid C19.The unmodernised section is exposed stone rubble,the rest is plastered stone rubble probably with cob;stone rubble stacks topped with C19 brick, some plastered;slate roof,formerly thatch.Plan and development:large farmhouse with an irregular plan facing south-south-east;say south.Basically it has T-plan.The main block has a three-room plan.The large left (west) end room has a gable-end stack.The centre room has an axial stack backing onto the left room.The right room has an end stack backing onto the east;end crosswing.There is a cross passage between the right and centre rooms.The crosswing is L-shaped.The main part contains three rooms,a main front and back room either side of a small lobby.Only the rear room is heated,by an outer lateral stack.The "chapel" projects to right of the front room.Outshots across the back of the main block, the one behind the left end room has a rear stack.This is a house with a long and complex structural history.Later alterations have made it difficult to determine the early history in detail.Nevertheless it seems likely that the main block was the open hall range of the medieval house and the eastern crosswing was a solar range with chapel attached.There is evidence that the hall range of the medieval house and the eastern crosswing was a solar range with chapel attached.There is evidence that the hall was open to the roof and heated by an open hearth fire but the sooted roof truss appears to be early C16(late C15 at the earliest).The solar fireplace and stone window look the same date.Only the chapel window looks earlier.Apart from the smoke-blackened roof truss the main block contains mostly Cl7 carpentry detail and not all of that is exposed.The C19 renovation hides the details of the Cl7 layout but it seems that the left (west) room was the kitchen with a bakehouse behind,the centre room was the dining room and the right room a parlour.The parlour stack intrudes into the crosswing.The present layout of the crosswing is late C16 or Cl7.The first floor level appears to be a little higher than it was originally.It is not clear why the front room is unheated since it has such a fine ceiling structure.It once included an oak-framed screen to the rest of the wing but this was replaced by a cob wall,probably in the mid Cl7 when the lobby partition was erected and the rear room given a kitchen fireplace with curing chamber alongside.This house is two storeys.Exterior:main block has an irregular four-window front of mid C19 casements with glazing bars.The passage front doorway contains a-mid C19 six-panel door with overlight behind a contemporary flat-roofed timber porch with trellis sides.The secondary doorway (into the left end kitchen) has a mid C19 door with gabled hood.The main block roof is gable-ended.The crosswing is disused.The front end of the wing contains a late C16-early Cl7 oak-framed window.It is partly blocked but of the original five-lights are open;the mullions are chamfered externally and ogee-moulded internally. Above it a late Cl7 oak two-light window with flat-faced mullions and containing rectangular panes of old leaded glass.The roof above is hipped.The gable-end wall of the chapel has large red sandstone conglomerate buttresses and has the late C13-early C14 two-light window of volcanic ashlar.The outer side of the crosswing contains one-light of an originally wider window built of volcanic ashlar.It has a transom and shoulder-headed lights.There are other oak C17 chamfered or flat-faced mullion windows some with iron glazing bars and saddle bars and a Tudor arch doorway to rear.Interior: the main block is largely the result of the C19 modernisation although where carpentry detail is exposed it is mostly Cl7.The left end room has the only exposed crossbeams;they are soffit-chamfered with step stops.The large fireplace has a soffit-chamfered oak lintel.There is a much neater fireplace to the right room indicating its parlour status.The centre room fireplace is blocked.Only limited access was available to the main roof but a tall side-pegged jointed cruck could be seen over the centre room.It is smoke-blackened from the late medieval open hearth fire.Remarkably the western outshot lean-to roof is supported on side-pegged jointed crucks too.The disused crosswing has a partly-blocked late C15 - early C16 first floor fireplace backing onto the main block.One of its volcanic ashlar jambs shows with chamfered edges and hood corbel.The rest of this fireplace is blocked by a C19 chimneypiece.Although the front room is unheated it has a fine late C16-early Cl7 9-panel ceiling of richly-moulded intersecting beams.A contemporary oak Tudor arch door into the chapel which was floored about the same time;it has a soffit- chamfered and step-stopped crossbeam.The rest of the crosswing appears to be mid Cl7.There is a plain cob-nogged oak-framed partition between the lobby and secondary kitchen.The fireplace is volcanic ashlar with a soffit-chamfered qak lintel.In the back is a blocked oven doorway and the alcove to left was a walk-in curing chamber.Plain-chamfered crossbeam here.The roof of the crosswing and chapel was replaced in the C19 but a couple of cruck posts remain in the walls.This important building is complex and intriguing.This is the possible site of the Domesday manor of Uplonia.Source:a full photographic record of the crosswing with measured ground plan and description by Eric Mercer and Sarah Pearson in NMR.Devon SMR.


Listing NGR: ST0129815539

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

Legacy System number:

96034

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LBS

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