Lower Beeny Farmhouse

Details

ST JULIOT SX 19 SW 2/131 Lower Beeny Farmhouse 16.11.84 II Farmhouse, now private house. Probably late C16 or early C17. Rendered and painted stone rubble, partly slate hung. Rag slate roof with gable ends, gable end to front wing on right and lower rag slate roof with gable ends to range on left. Stone rubble stack on right hand gable end, projecting stone rubble stack with cloam oven projection on front gable end of right hand wing. Brick stacks in lower left hand range with axial stack backing onto lower side of passage and gable end stack on left. Plan much altered and main range facing east is probably only part of original house which was possibly of two room and through passage plan; the higher end on right (north) appears to be late C16 or early C17 with a possibly two-bay hall heated by gable end stack on right. The parlour wing was added in the early C17 at the front of, and overlapping, the higher end of the hall, enough to allow a doorway for access from the hall to the parlour wing. This unusual arrangement forms an angle between the higher end of the hall and the parlour wing and was presumably designed because the ground immediately beyond the higher end rises steeply, and to build here would have required excavating the bed-rock. If the parlour wing had been built lower down on the front of the hall, a new hall window would have been needed at the back, but the back of the house is very exposed to the prevailing westerly gales. The through passage and lower left hand (south) end appear to have been partly rebuilt in the C18 or C19, reduced to a single storey height and partly remodelled, inside the passage becoming the kitchen. The original arrangement of this lower end is unclear; possibly either a service range or alternatively an outbuilding or byre. The thin wall on the higher, right hand side of the passage continues up to form the lower gable end wall of the higher end and incorporates a C17 truss which was originally open indicating that the hall roof continued at that level over the lower end. On the lower side of the passage, the thick stone wall contains a chimney flue and a probably blocked entrance which led from the passage into the left hand service end. The extent of the rebuilding of the lower end is uncertain, much of the joinery has been renewed or reused; the passage, which is now the kitchen, may have been widened and is heated by a fireplace in the lower left hand side. The lintel of this fireplace is probably mid C17 but may have been reused. In circa late C18 and C19 single storey lean-to outshots were added to the front of the left hand end, to the lower left hand gable end, to the rear of the hall and passage, and to the higher right hand gable end. 2-storey circa late C16 range on right with front projecting wing; C20 fenestration on ground floor and C19 3-light casement on first floor. Single storey C20 glazed conservatory or porch across the front and in the angle with the wing to right. The gable end of the right hand wing contains a 3-light cavetto moulded granite mullion window on ground floor and a similar 2-light window above. The lower range to left has a glazed C20 door to the through passage. Interior : two heavy ceiling beams above hall with chamfer and cyma stops. C20 fireplaces in hall and parlour. The fireplace heating the kitchen, at the lower side of the passage has a chamfered circa C17 timber lintel with ogee stops. The stops do not line up with the jambs of the fireplace possibly indicating that the lintel has been reused. Cloam oven on left hand side. 2-bay roof structure above hall with principals halved, lap-jointed and pegged at apices and collars halved, lap-jointed and pegged onto face of principals. The lower truss was originally open but has been incorporated as closed truss into the left hand gable end wall. The roof structure above parlour has been sealed and is inaccessible. The roof structure above the lower service range on left comprises several re-used trusses, heavily coated with dark stain, some with morticed apices but with renewed collars. Area venerated in later love poems of Thomas Hardy.

Listing NGR: SX1123592342

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

68802

Legacy System:

LBS

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