Undercleave

Details

The following building shall be added to the list:-

ST 20 SE CHARDSTOCK SMALLRIDGE ROAD

5/10000 Undercleave

II

Farmhouse, now house. Probably early or mid C16, superficially altered in C19 and C20. Rear wing added C16/C17. Stone rubble, squared and coursed in places. The left gable-wall (concealed by later addition) is of cob in upper storey. Slated roof, real at front, asbestos at rear; hipped to right. C20 red-brick chimneys on left gable-end and on centre of ridge. Plan 3-room-and-through-passage. C16/C17 rear wing behind inner room. C19 extension, in 2 phases, to left. C19 lean-to at rear. Exterior: 2 storeys. 3 windows wide, with 1 window in extension to left. All windows in front wall of original building have C20 artificial stone mullions and hood-moulds; metal casements. Gabled porch of same stone; C20 plank door. Side-wall to right has in ground storey of wing a C17, chamfered wood window of 2 lights. Upper storey has 2 late C20 wood casements; also an earlier one of 2 lights with 3 panes per light. Extension to left has in ground storey a 2-light wood casement window with 4 panes per light; this occupies the top of a former doorway and has right joist and base of red brick. Left side-wall has a plank door with strap-hinges. Other windows in this and the rear wall have Mid/Late C20 wood casements, except for an earlier- looking one in rear wall of wing: 2 lights with 2 panes per light. Interior Through-passage has stud-and-panel screens at either side; chamfered studs, the stops concealed; original doorway into hall with chamfered, slightly cambered head having straight- cut stops. Behind the hall chimney only the head-beam of the screen survives, although this is itself a rare survival for Devon. Exposed joists. Original cranked, chamfered door-head at rear entrance to passage. Hall fireplace has wood lintel carved with quatrefoils fitted alternately with shields and 4- leaved flowers; above these is a cornice-carved with 3-leaved flowers. Brick-lined oven with stone-framed aperture and shelf. Carved chimneypieces of this quality are rare in Devon below gentry-level; the style here is Gothic, but that lasted until the 1580s in East Devon. Deeply-chamfered ceiling-beams with large step-stops. Partition with inner room has been removed, but mortices for 2 studs survive on its underside. Lower room has chamfered half-beam like that in hall; exposed joists. Fireplace with chamfered wood lintel; no stops visible. Oven in back has cast-iron door with maker's name: WIGHTMAN & DENING CHARD. Screen to passage has plain studs this side. Early staircase in rear left-hand corner; small C19 wood-framed window with diamond-shaped centre bar and square leaded panes of old glass. Upper storey has 3 pairs of side-pegged jointed crucks, the curved lower part projecting slightly in the fashion more usual in Dorset and Somerset. Through-purlins; ridge cut into top of truss; collars, where visible are tenoned and straight. No sign of smoke-blackening, except possibly on the truss over centre of hall, which could not be examined closely. No sign of partitioning, except for stake-holes in truss above division between hall and inner room. The whole roof is encased in a later one,to carry which the wall-heights have been raised. On the left end-wall is the back of a timber-framed chimney, heavily sooted on the inside. The rest has been demolished and replaced with a stone chimney, although a rough cross-beam in the end- bedroom may have been part of its structure. Rear wing has chamfered ceiling-beam with rough step-stops. Window with plank shutters. Its roof has no principal rafters, the ridge and purlins being carried by 3 posts, rising from the rear wall of the houses, the spaces between them filled with wattle-and-daub; the whole is held in position by a collar birds-mouthed on to the purlins. Although the house seems to be basically of a single early/mid C16 build, the survival of the through-passage screen behind the hall chimney is odd. In medieval houses in Devon, this was usually removed before the chimney was inserted, and where the chimney was original, one would not expect a screen to be built behind it. It could be that the original chimney was timber- framed, like that at the lower end; or possibly there was an open hearth for a very brief period at the end of the Middle Ages, before the chimney was inserted. The broad, chamfered ceiling-beams are usually C17 in Devon, and this could suggest that the house remained single-storeyed to a late date, the 2 panelled screens forming "low partitions" in the Devon tradition.

Listing NGR: ST2961401856

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

88311

Legacy System:

LBS

End of official list entry

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