The Old Bakery

Details

SY 08 NE NEWTON POPPLEFORD STATION ROAD, AND HARPFORD Newton Poppleford 5/85 The Old Bakery (formerly listed 11.11.52 under cottages adjoining the Shieling) GV II*

House in part of a larger original house. Early C16 with major C17 improvements; the original house probably divided up in the late C18-early C19. Plastered cob on stone rubble footings, part of rear wall faced with late C17-early C18 brick; stone or cob stacks topped with C19 and C20 brick; thatch roof. The house is set back from the road and raised above it. It faces north. It occupies the hall, passage and service end room of the original 3- or 4-room-and- through-passage plan house. The 2 rooms of the inner room end on the right (western) side has been divided off and is now occupied by Ham Cottage (q.v.). The passage has now been blocked to the rear and there is now only a small entrance lobby. The present kitchen occupies the rear of the passage and extends into the service end room. The service end room at the left (eastern) end was rebuilt in the late C17 with a rear lateral stack. The hall has a prominent projecting front lateral stack and the window bay of the hall immediately to right is brought forward flush with the front of the stack as an oriel. 2 storeys. Irregular 3-window front of late C19-early C20 casements with glazing bars including a small bay window projecting square with monopitch roof left of centre. Between the bay window and the hall stack is the front passage doorway containing a C20 part-glazed door. The hall stack has an ashlar chimney shaft with weathered offsets and was extended with C19 brick. Just below the chimney shaft there is a moulded plaster plaque comprising a simple lozenge-shaped frame surmounted by a fleur-de-lys motif. It is uninscribed and probably C17 in date. The left end of the roof is hipped and to right it is continuous with that of the adjoining Ham Cottage (q.v). Interior. The hall is the oldest part dating from the early C16. A small part of the passage-hall plank-and-muntin screen is exposed on the reverse hall side where the muntins are not chamfered. At the front end is an internal window containing rectangular panes of thin and ancient leaded glass. The lower passage screen, or what is left of it, is plastered over. It is, however, a full height crosswall and the framing closing the truss can be seen in the roofspace. At the apex a small collar holds the tops of the principals either side of the diagonally set ridge (A.lcock's apex type L1). Only the service side roofspace is accessible but soot seems to have filtered through from the hall side indicating that the hall was open to the roof which was smoke-blackened from an open hearth fire. To the rear of the hall are late C17 oak 3-light windows frames on each floor, both with flat-faced mullions. The top one has leaded glass. The hall roof is 2 bays and apparently intact although the open truss is completely boxed in by a C20 partition. The upper end closed truss is exposed on the Ham Cottage side. It is a face-pegged jointed cruck. The hall has a large stone fireplace with a soffit-chamfered oak lintel. It was probably built in the late C16-early C17. There is a tiny fire window on the right side and a similar tiny light in the outer edge of oriel bay. The hall was floored in the mid C17 with an axial beam with a broad soffit chamfer and double-bar scroll stops. The service end was rebuilt in the late Cl7-early C18. It has a reused rougiily-finished axial beam and the fireplace lintel is similarly finished. The rough roof truss is an A-frame with a pegged lap-jointed collar. This is a part of a high quality late Medieval house and forms an attractive group with Ham Cottage (q.v.) and the Sheiling (q.v.).

Listing NGR: SY0877289738

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

352407

Legacy System:

LBS

End of official list entry

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