Bakers Dairy Cottage Bakers Farmhouse

Details

BROADHEMBURY DULFORD ST 00 NE

2/66 Bakers Farmhouse and Bakers Dairy Cottage

GV II*

House, divided into 2. Late medieval origins, presumbly modernized in the C17, early C18 upgrading including refacing in brick. Cob on stone rubble footings, the front elevation faced with Flemish bond brick with blue headers; corrugated asbestos roof, gabled at ends (thatched until at least 1956, old list description); end stacks and 2 axial stacks, all with C18 brick shafts. Plan: The present arrangement is T plan: a west-facing single depth main range, 4 rooms wide with a cross passage to left of centre in Bakers Dairy Cottage. Complex evolution. The house originated as a late medieval open hall: the position of the surviving smoke-blackened truss suggests that the left end (Bakers Dairy) was always the lower end. Presumably the house was floored with stacks added in the C17, the hall stack backing on to the passage, although C18 alterations have obscured this building phase. A surviving cruck truss at the right end of Bakers Farmhouse suggests that the main range may have been extended at the higher end in the C17, giving a higher end 3 rooms wide. In the early C18 the house was upgraded : the front elevation was refaced in brick and refenestrated and the centre room of the higher end was remodelled as an entrance hall. The lower end room was refurbished as a high quality parlour, the extreme right end room functioned as the kitchen. The rear wing may also be of this date, it includes an C18 stair. Axial passages were also introduced on both the first and ground floors. A dairy with granary over at the right end may also be C18 or perhaps later. This is rendered with a corrugated iron roof. A C20 single-storey lean-to kitchen has been added in the south-east corner between the rear wing and the main range and there has also been a C20 addition to the rear of Bakers Dairy Cottage. Exterior: 2 storeys. Asymmetrical 3:4 window front with C20 porches in the 3rd and 6th bays. 7 first floor C20 2-light casements, 2 panes per light; 5 ground floor sashes with segmental brick arches and boxed frames, the 2 pane glazing presumably a C20 replacement of smaller pane C18 sashes or casements. Interior: Rich in high quality early C18 features, Bakers Farmhouse is particularly unspoiled. The entrance hall has a richly-moulded C18 plaster cornice and an early C18 panelled wall cupboard. The left hand room has re-sited C17 or early C18 panelling on the crosswall and a massive, probably C17 open fireplace with a timber lintel. The right hand room has a large open fireplace with a bread oven projecting into the dairy. The left hand room (in Bakers Dairy) has a high quality early C18 decorated plaster ceiling with a richly moulded cornice, the mouldings returning where they are interrupted by the window openings. A plaster frieze extends along both sides of the central plastered-over crossbeam and an oval motif with a central rose decorates the ceiling on the fireplace side. The C18 stair, sited in the rear wing (Bakers Farmhouse), has turned balusters to the first flight and a Chinese Chippendale balustrade to the second flight. Numerous C18 2-panel doors survive in both houses, Bakers Dairy also retains an C18 fitted wall cupboard and drawer in one of the first floor rooms and Bakers Farmhouse has a good early C18 first floor fireplace with an eared architrave. Roof: Of the late medieval roof one truss survives in Bakers Farmhouse, over the left hand room. The truss is infilled, the plaster sooted on the left (north) side, presumably marking the south end of the medieval open hall. The collar is mortised into the principals which are mortised at the apex with a diagonally-set ridge. Access to the ridge to the right (south) of this truss was very limited at time of survey (1987) but the apex of the roof appears to be a replacement south of the medieval truss. Nevertheless, the feet of a jointed cruck truss survive over the extreme right (south) end of the range, apex not seen at time of survey. An extremely interesting evolved house, rich in high quality early C18 features. Early C18 brick is uncommon in the county of Devon. Local place names in Awliscombe and Broadhembury parishes indicate that brick was made locally and, according to local tradition, there was a brickfield at Dulford, just north of Bakers Farmhouse and Bakers Dairy.

Listing NGR: ST0703405936

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

87068

Legacy System:

LBS

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.