Description
Two storey single pile house with two storey rear wing and rear outshut. Main roof fully hipped at west end, gabled at east end, as is the wing. Two rear lateral stacks, one enclosed in wing and the other in the outshut. Axial stack on east gable, partly external. Fenestration irregular, with five raked dormers in the front elevation, ground floor windows with pentice roofs of two rows of tiles. Porch on trellis over front cross-passage door, roof continues to east to cover bay window and is supported by curved brackets. Rear wall of linhay butts onto front of house at east end. West wall of house and wing continuous, ventilators just below window sill level. East gable wall set slightly further back on north side of stack. Rear elevation with two raked dormers cutting through roof, east one over stairs with flat leaded roof below it. West outshut with catslide roof, east part with roof springing from under eaves. Small lean-to on northeast corner. Rubble stone walls, some rendered and limewashed with black tar band under tile roof.
Many of the major timbers of the medieval roof survive, including five jointed cruck trusses. The only open hearth fire was in the hall. Three room open hall cross passage house with five bay roof supported on five jointed cruck trusses, the east truss being now against the gable wall. All trusses except the eastern show smoke blackening so the inner room or parlour has always been smoke free. The trusses are numbered from the west. Truss 4 is closed and is only smoke-blackened on the west side, it was built without a collar, the structure of the partition it enclosed giving stability. It is possible that the present east bedroom was a chamber over the parlour. Sitting room and most of passage was the open hall with probably a central fireplace as the smoke blackening is even front and back. The cross-passage and lower room were also open to the roof, as trusses 1 and 2 and the purlins show slight blackening. It is likely that both plank and muntin screens along the cross-passage were there, though the fit of the muntins to the top rail of the west screen shows oddities. One of the peculiarities of the house is the size of the bays. The trusses are not set regularly, nor does there seem to be an obvious reason for their uneven distribution. Truss 5 is an enigma as jointed crucks are not usually set in gable ends, there is the possibility that it was moved but it does not seem likely. Truss 2, over the western screen, was closed ( the east side of the wattle and daub is smoke-blackened, the west side is clean) in the early 16c. This would have meant that a chamber could be built over the lower room. The beam is similar to many in Bossington and Allerford with large hollow chamfer and step- runout stops, so the first floor may have been inserted later in the century. The earliest partitions were wattle and daub. During the late 16c/17c the rear fireplace was added to the open hall ( sitting room). Since this has gone - it was probably where the main staircase is now - there is nothing to date it. The room was ceiled by the end of the 17c ( wide chamfer on beam, scratch decorated cupboard in hall chamber), this may have been done when the fireplace was added or later. In the 18c/ early 19c ground floor remodelled east of the cross-passage. The hall and parlour were turned into square rooms to suit the prevailing fashion. This involved building a new fireplace inside the house, and removing or just blocking the old rear stack. It is likely that the removing or just blocking the old rear stack. It is likely that spiral stairs set against this stack gave access to the first floor, they may have remained in use. Nothing is known of the fireplace in the workroom, that in the sitting room had a mid 19c marble surround but earlier evidence is lacking. The easternmost store was probably created at this time but moving out the rear wall on the northeast corner, and creating the little rooms above in the slope of the roof. The doorway in the partition between the workroom and the sitting room was blocked, and the first floor room gained a passage, giving much more privacy. During this period the rear wing was added as a dairy, buttery etc and the west wall either rebuilt in line with the wing, or moved slightly to the west to its present position. The west stairs were inserted. The very thin wall on the front at the west end suggests either a removed stair turret or a collapse. It may of course have been both, the turret removed without proper rebuilding and a subsequent collapse, perhaps in the 20c. The many good doors and moulded architraves belong to this period, and are a fine feature of this fascinating house. The reed and plaster partitions and ceilings belong to this period of work. In the late 19c the rear staircase was built and the cross- passage and stairwell tiled. The carpentry fits that of Holnicote Cottage ( 1876-77) and Selworthy Farmhouse ( 1883-84). Some of the architraves, such as that round the rear door to the wing from the sitting room is from the same workmen. The lower room fireplace was rebuilt as a smaller oven fireplace and the wing fireplace inserted with a brick bake oven on the east side. The dairy became the kitchen. Lean-to ( entrance lobby and lavatory) were probably added at this time. It is possible that the 18c cupboard in passage was placed in a doorway at this time, perhaps it was removed from the workroom. In a good state of repair.
Outbuildings:
Wine Store: Single cell lean-to on northeast corner formed by house and linhay. Rubble stone walls under a tile roof. Built by the present tenants in 1980s after a longer lean-to on the north wall of linhay had been removed. Linhay, now Store/ Workshop: Single storey, single pile, five cell mainly open-fronted building, later closed with doors and boarding, lean-to on east side of garden wall. Continues along southern part of east end of house. Walls of rubble stone with some brick under tile roof. Stable, now Workshop: The building is four sided, but skewed, single storey with a gable at each end. It opened onto the yard to the north. Rubble stone walls under roman tile roof. Built during the baronetcy of Sir Thomas Acland between 1876-1889. Store: Single cell lean-to on west end of Stable. Walls of rubble stone and board under a corrugated iron roof. 20c.
Linhay/ Barn, now Store/ Garage: Two storey two cell gable-ended building, now free-standing. Front faces west into the yard, with a central round pillar on the ground floor, an opening each side, and a first floor opening of paired doors above the south door. Gabled building, double pitch. Rubble stone walls under tile roof. Late 19c, it originally had a further length of building running south to the road. Indications of this can still be seen. Garage: Single cell lean-to, rubble stone and board walls under corrugated iron roof. On the site of another lean-to, shown on the 1889 O.S. map. Early to mid 20c.[1]
One of the larger medieval three room cross-passage houses on the Estate, in a very prominent position on the A39 at the turning to Allerford. The roof is tiled, replacing thatch c.1900, the walls are rendered and limewashed. The cross-passage has not altered, it has a plank and muntin screen on each side, both in a good state of repair. Cherry Trees (site 155023[MNA139482]) is the only other house with two screens surviving. The jointed cruck roof structure is smoke-blackened. The hall stack, since removed, was added by the 16c as there is a scratch moulded cupboard in the hall chamber. In the late 18c/early 19c the hall was altered, the stack moved in and different stairs added. There are also stairs in the southwest corner giving access to the first floor and rear wing at that end, and there may have been stairs on the east end as there is a possible blocked doorway at first floor level. The rear wing is 17c in date, with a good door surviving. The outbuildings are mainly around the courtyard to the east of the house.[2]
The house was surveyed in 2009 after the east end of the house was damaged by water after pipes froze during the cold winter of 2009. The date of felling of the roof timbers is the winter of 1544/5, from dendrochronological survey. More information in the report. [3]
Detailed recording of the house was carried out during building repair and restoration work in 2010-2011. Previously unknown features were recorded. More information in the report. [4]