Poltimore Farmhouse

Details

SY 19 NE FARWAY

3/67 Poltimore Farmhouse - 22.2.55 GV II*

Farmhouse. Probably mid-late C15 with major C16 and C17 improvements, one of them dated 1583, some C19 modernisation and a new parlour wing. Exposed local calcareous stone and flint rubble with some cob to rear and the rear block is partly timber- framed; stone rubble stacks, cob and brick stacks, all topped with C19 and C20 brick; thatch roof. Plan and development: basically a T-plan building. The main block is the historic core of the building. It is built down a gentle hillslope and faces south-south- east, say south. Uphill at the right (east) end is an unheated inner room, a former dairy. Next to it is the hall which has a projecting front lateral stack and projecting rear newel stair turret. Between this hall and the passage there is a narrow room, a former buttery or cider store. At the left (west) end there is a kitchen with a gable-end stack. To rear of the kitchen a service block projects not quite at right angles. It contains 2 small unheated rooms, and, on the outer (west) end, is a bakehouse/kitchen in a leanto, its cob stack backing onto the former kitchen. In front of the kitchen the C19 parlour wing with gable-end stack projects forwards at right angles. This is a house with a long and complex structural history. The development here is much as it was interpreted by Commander Williams (see Sources, below). The original house occupied the present hall, passage and former kitchen. At this time hall and passage were open to the roof and heated by an open hearth fire and separated from the second room by a closed truss. Williams argues that this second room was a service room with solar chamber above even though the original roof structure here is also smoke-blackened. His argument is certainly strong although it relies on the top section of the closed truss being left open at first and the first floor beam to the putative solar refashioned with new chamfers and stops in the late C16-early C17. The top section of the closed truss was closed whilst there was still an open hearth fire since the hall side is heavily sooted (although the former kitchen/solar side is far from clean). Might there have been 2 open hearth fires originally? Although there surely were some alterations before 1583 no evidence shows of any. At this time the hall was floored over, it and the new chamber were given fireplaces in a new stack and the stair turret was built. The lower end was refurbished as a kitchen in the late C16-early C17. For the most part the contemporary features here look more C17 than C16 although a newly-uncovered chamber fireplace is very much like the one dated 1583 over the hall. The rear service block appears to be contemporary with the kitchen refurbishment although the kitchen/bakehouse leanto and stack is later (probably C18). The inner room dairy was probably added about the same time. In the C19 the front parlour wing was added and at this time the main block kitchen became the dining room. House is 2 storeys with outshots rebuilt in 1985 to rear of the main block. Exterior: irregular 4-window front of mostly C19 and C20 casements with glazing bars and one of the latest containing rectangular panes of leaded glass. At the left end the former kitchen has a late C16-early C17 oak 6-light window with ovolo- moulded mullions and central king mullion; the left light is blocked by the front parlour wing. The passage front doorway contains a C20 door. The hall stack has a chamfered Beerstone plinth. The rear of the main block includes mostly late C16- early C17 oak-framed windows. Behind the outshot the dairy has a 4-light window with external oak and internal ovolo-moulded mullions. The 2 contemporary first floor windows have chamfered mullions; one of them is blocked. Over the passage rear doorway is a late C17 flat-faced mullion window. The inner room dairy end wall of the main block has a first floor doorway and external flight of stone steps. At the other, the kitchen (west) end there is a wide segmental-headed aperture with crude dripmould over; this is thought to be an original window which was blocked by the stack there in the late C16-early C17. The rear block includes some more late C16-early C17 oak windows on the inner (east) side. The 2 first floor windows here have ovolo-moulded mullions and both were originally 5 lights but have missing mullions. Nevertheless the rectangular panes of leaded glass in the outer lights of the left one are very old, some of them tinged with green. The roof of this block is half-hipped; the other roofs are gable-ended. Good interior: the interior carpentry and other features have been described in considerable detail (often accompanied by measured drawings) by Commander Williams (see Sources, below). There are 3 oak plank-and-muntin screens, one each side of the passage and another between buttery and hall. The crosswall at the upper end of the hall is cob and stone rubble with an original tie beam truss on top filled with wattle and daub. All the crossbeams in the main block have deep chamfers with step stops. The hall has a large Beerstone ashlar fireplace with an oak lintel, its soffit cut away but apparently had a low Tudor arch. It has a chamfered surround with urn stops. The chamber fireplace above is smaller but similar, it is built of Beerstone ashlar and contains a frieze with the date 1583 and the initials TH (thought to be one Thomas Haydon) GH and AH. There is another plain version over the kitchen. The main block kitchen itself has a large fireplace with plain chamfered oak lintel and side oven. The hall stair has its original thick oak treads. Some of the original roof survives over the main block including an arch- braced face-pegged jointed cruck and a closed truss although the section over the hall was replaced with side-pegged jointed crucks in the late C16. There is a late C16 - early C17 oak-framed wall between the main-block kitchen and the rear block. It seems that, on the outer (west) side, the frist floor close- studded wall jettied over the now-demolished ground floor wall, a rare example of external timber-framing in rural Devon. This block has a side-pegged jointed cruck roof truss. Several of the doorways throughout the house are late C16 - early C17 and have cranked heads. Poltimore is a remarkable survival, it is one of the best examples of a traditional lowland Devon farmhouse in East Devon. Furthermore it is sited in a most attractive valley and forms a group with its farmbuildings. Williams lists all documentary references to the place, the earliest of which is 1170. Source: Commander EHD Williams, Poltimore Farmhouse, Farway Trans. Devon. Assoc. 106 (1974) pp. 215 - 229. This excellent article contains measured plans, elevations and details along with a detailed description of the farmhouse and discussion of its development.

Listing NGR: SY1768697105

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

88738

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Transactions of the Devonshire Association in Transactions of the Devonshire Association, Vol. 106, (1974), 215-229

End of official list entry

All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.