Bay Farmhouse and attached former pig house

Summary

A former open-hall house, built in the C15; altered in the late C16 and C17, and extended and altered further in the C19. It was renovated in the early C21. Attached former pig house to south-west corner.

Reasons for Designation

Bay Farmhouse, a former open hall-house of the C15, ceiled over in the later C16, extended and altered in the C19 and renovated in the early C21, and the attached former pig house are listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:
* the house is of demonstrably early date and, despite a degree of alteration over the years, retains a significant proportion of early fabric;
* it retains internal features of quality craftsmanship including plank and muntin screens and C15 roof joinery which has clear evidence of smoke-blackening, along with a good C16 panelled ceiling in the former hall and inglenook fireplaces.

Historic interest:
* as a late-medieval house which shows clear evidence of its evolution in the following centuries, illustrating the changing needs of its inhabitants since it was constructed.

History

Wearne formed part of the Duke of Devonshire’s estate until the early C20 and Bay Farm is situated towards the western end of the hamlet. The farmhouse is probably of C15 origin, as demonstrated by the surviving smoke-blackened roof timbers and diagonally-set ridgepiece; the former indicating the building’s original plan as an open-hall house with a service room at one end and an inner room, possibly with a solar over, at the opposite end. It has since been adapted over several phases, including the insertion of chimneys and first floor in the late C16; this was a period which saw considerable rebuilding across rural England. It was extended to the rear, and the front wall and roof were raised, probably during the early C19.

Bay Farmhouse is shown clearly on the Ordnance Survey map of 1887 and largely corresponds to its current footprint. A detached rectangular building is also depicted just to the north of the house, and to the west, on the opposite side of a small yard, is a linear range of attached outbuildings. A well on the north side of the house is marked on the second edition map of 1903, although it is an earlier feature; it is square, and stone lined. Further alterations and renovations were carried out on the house and its outbuildings in the early C21.

Details

A former open-hall house, built in the C15; altered in the late C16 and C17 and extended and altered further in the C19. It was renovated in the early C21. Attached former pig house to south-west corner.

MATERIALS: constructed of coursed, cut and squared lias stone rubble, with stone dressings and some of later brick, under gabled and hipped roofs covered in double Roman tiles. The main roof was probably originally thatched. There are gable-end stacks of red brick and a ridge stack to the left of centre. The windows are mostly C20 timber and metal casements and timber sashes; the latter brought from elsewhere, and there is one early pegged timber window in the rear elevation.

PLAN: the house is L-shaped on plan, comprising the three-unit, cross passage house orientated on a west-east axis, and C19 and early-C21 additions to the rear. There is also a small lean-to, a former pig house, against the west gable end.

EXTERIOR: the main four-bay range is one and a half storeys and the rear additions are of one and one and a half storeys. The principal (south) elevation has early-C21 raised ashlar kneelers, an entrance to the left of centre, which has a half-glazed timber door, probably C19 and altered in the mid-C20, under an open-sided, gabled porch, and three C20 casement windows, of three and five lights and with internal secondary glazing, on both floors. The ground-floor openings have timber lintels. The east gable wall features a sash window on each floor; both have timber lintels and brick surrounds. A small wooden cover to the left of the ground-floor window covers a former meter recess. single light to the ground floor. The later addition to the right is built of stone rubble and timber wainy boards and has a modern window in the east wall and a plank door in the north. It has a catslide roof which is a continuation of the roof over the C19 addition. This part of the building has a three-light casement within a segmental-arched brick surround and to the west elevation is a doorway with a segmental-arched brick head containing a flat-arched plank door set in a modern frame. There is a brick stack down the slope of the roof. To the rear of the main range, the cross passage is marked by a modern door and vertical side light, and there is a small, pegged timber window of two lights with later glazing to the right of the entrance. There are also rooflights. The west gable end has a modern first-floor window and metal ties.

INTERIOR: the principal entrance opens to the cross passage which has a timber partition of overlapping planks on one side and an inserted modern stair to the rear. A doorway in the partition leads to a room, probably a former kitchen, which contains a fireplace with jambs of lias stone and a chamfered bressumer. It also has a roughly-finished ceiling beam that runs the width of the building. The northern part of this room has been partitioned off with timber planks, probably in the C17. To the right of the passage, the former hall contains a large inglenook fireplace with timber bressumer and stone jambs; one jamb possibly rebuilt; a deep-chamfered panelled ceiling; some parts renewed, and a deep-chamfered half-beam that extends the width of the fireplace. Both the fireplace and the half-beam abut the foot of the central roof truss. The room’s east wall has a timber plank partition and a doorway through to the ‘inner’ room at the east end of the building. This room has an early-C21 stone fireplace with chamfered bressumer and the ceiling beam spanning the room is deeply chamfered, with cyma stops. A stone inscribed with a shoeprint and the initials JS was found during the renovations and has been set into the side of the chimneybreast. An opening in the north wall of the former hall gives access to the C19 rear kitchen addition which is modern in character. The internal doors on the ground floor are ledged and braced and are modern. The first floor has wide elm floorboards and several plank doors, though not all necessarily in their original positions. There are two side-pegged jointed crucks, including one that may have been a closed truss from the onset, and between them, occupying a roughly-central position over the former hall, is an arch-braced true cruck; all are smoke-blackened, and the upper sections are concealed by ceilings. There are also two rows of trenched purlins, a diagonally-set ridgepiece which is visible in the roof space, and evidence that there was previously a single tier of wind-bracing. The later timbers date probably from the C19 and the roof is now supported by early-C21 steels.

SUBSIDIARY FEATURE: the former pig house dates from at least the late C19 since it is shown on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1887. It has been built against the south-west corner of the house, and has a stone rubble south wall, a vertical stone slate wall on the west side and is open to the north under a monopitched roof of double Roman tiles. The roof has been repaired and the internal floor is laid with stone slabs.
This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 15 February to amend the text in the description

Sources

Books and journals
Huish Episcopi, Wearne, Bay Farm in The Proceedings of the Somerset Archaeology and Natural History , Vol. 163, (2019), 225-237

Other
Somerset Vernacular Building Research Group, June 2002, The Bays, Wearne, Nr Langport. Somerset Archives, Ref No. DD/V/LAR/13/9

End of official list entry

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