Whitehall Farmhouse

Details

LUPPITT
ST 10 SE
10/65 Whitehall Farmhouse
-
- II
Farmhouse. C16 and C17, thoroughly refurbished and partly rebuilt circa 1930.
Exposed local stone and flint rubble; stone rubble stacks topped with plastered C20
brick; interlocking tile roof, originally thatch.
Plan and development: double depth plan house facing south-south-west, say south,
and built down the hillslope. The wider front section is the historic core of the
house and it has a 4-room-and-through-passage plan. Downhill at the right (east)
end is the service end, a former kitchen with a gable-end stack. Next to it is the
passage the other side is the former hall with an axial stack backing onto the
passage. At the upper end of the hall is a parlour with an axial stack backing onto
the small unheated left (west) end room which is probably an C18 and C19 extension.
Since the roof was completely replaced circa 1930 the historic development of the
house cannot be determined in any detail. The old features which are exposed are
late C16 and early C17 although the layout suggests that the house began earlier in
the C16 as some form of open hall house. There is some evidence for an internal
jetty at the upper end of the hall. The rear rooms derive from secondary outshots
across the back of the original house. The earliest, probably late C17 - early C18,
was 2 storeys and was probably a dairy or buttery behind the original kitchen at the
right end. Circa 1930 the old roof was removed, the outshots built up to 2 storeys
and a new roof built across the whole house. The main stair is in the rear section
behind the through-passage; it dates from circa 1930. House is 2 storeys
throughout.
Exterior: irregular 5-window front of C20 casements with glazing bars. The passage
front doorway is right of centre and now contains a late C19 or early C20 part-
glazed 4-panel door behind a C20 gabled porch. High in the wall just left of centre
is set a probably incomplete plaque which is faintly inscribed with the initials
M.T.D. with an illegible date. The main roof is gable-ended.
Interior: late C16 and early C17 features are confined to the ground floor rooms of
the front 3-room-and-through-passage plan section. The lower (former kitchen) side
of the passage is lined with an oak plank-and-muntin screen. The former kitchen
fireplace is Beerstone ashlar (since relined with stone rubble) with an oak lintel
part of which is moulded but to the right this moulding fades into a sunken chamfer
(it looks as though it has always been so) and it has step stops. To left of the
fireplace an oven housing projects into the room. The axial beams are chamfered
with step stops. At the back of the passage there is an oak 4-centred arch doorway
with chamfered surround. The hall has a large Beerstone ashlar fireplace with an
oak lintel and chamfered surround. The hall ceiling is 4-panels of richly-moulded
intersecting beams with exposed chamfered and step-stopped joists. The parlour has
a similar but plainer 4-panel intersecting beam ceiling with plastered panels. The
parlour fireplace is most attractive; it is Beerstone ashlar with an oak lintel and
chamfered surround in which the jambs have carved motifs towards the bottom, a heart
and a sheaf of corn, and at the top the initials ID each side. There is no evidence
of early carpentry on the first floor and the roof is a complete rebuild of circa
1930.


Listing NGR: ST1815503999

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

86618

Legacy System:

LBS

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