Upton Farmhouse Including Outhouse Adjoining to South, Clyst St. Lawrence, Devon

Description

CLYST ST LAWRENCE
ST 00 SW
2/42 Upton farmhouse including outhouse
11.11.52 adjoining to south
GV II

Farmhouse. Early C16 with major later C16 and C17 improvements, some C19
alterations, thoroughly renovated and partly rebuilt in the late C19 - early C20.
Plastered cob on stone rubble footings; parts are rebuilt with local sandstone
rubble, and the late C19 - early C20 walls are brick; stone rubble and brick stacks
topped with C20 brick; thatch roof to the main block, the rest is slate roofed.
Plan and development: the main house has an L-plan. The main block faces east. It
has a 2-room plan with a central through passage. The right (northern) room has a
large projecting gable-end stack and the left room has a rear lateral stack which it
shares with the first room of a 2-room plan rear block. This rear block projects at
right angles that end and the rear room is the kitchen with a gable-end stack. On
the left (south) end of the house main block is an outhouse, now used as an
agricultural store, which forms a crosswing and projects forward at right angles to
the main block.
This house has been much altered over the years. It seems that the main block
derives from an early C16 3-room-and-through-passage plan. The main block now
contains the former lower end service room (at the right end), the passage and the
hall (the left room). There was once an inner room occupying that part of the
outhouse adjoining the main block. The original house was open to the roof from end
to end, it was divided by low partitions and was heated by an open hearth fire. All
the evidence for the development of the main block was hidden or removed in the late
C19 - early C20. Nevertheless the stacks serving the main rooms are large enough to
suggest C16 or C17 dates. The section of theouthouse which projects forward was a
2-room plan parlour wing built in the late C16 - early C17. The first room was a
fine parlour. It was probably heated by lateral stack in the outer (southern) wall
but this was rebuilt in the C19 and therefore there is no evidence for it. There
was a small unheated room (maybe a buttery) at the front end. In the C19 all
internal partitions were removed, the roof was rebuilt , the outer wall rebuilt and
the building converted to an agricultural outhouse.
House is 2 storeys.
Exterior: the main block has a symmetrical 1:1:1-window front of early C20 mullion-
and-transom windows with glazing bars, the first floor windows of the outer bays
have gables over. The centre bay is an early C20 2-storey gabled porch which breaks
forward only a short distance from the main block. The lower stage of the porch has
an elliptical outer arch with trellis sides. Behind it is a good late C16 - early
C17 front doorframe; an oak Tudor arch with a moulded surround and it contains a
very good contemporary studded oak plank door with moulded coverstrips, strap hinges
with fleur-de-lys finials and oak lock housing. The main block roof is tall and
steeply-pitched and is half-hipped each end.
The front (north side) of the outhouse has its original late C16 - early C17 oak-
framed windows; a ground floor (former parlour) 5-light window and first floor
(former parlour chamber) 4-light window, both with richly-moulded reveals and
mullions. A doorway to left (to the former buttery) has a contemporary oak Tudor
arch doorframe and contains an old plank door. The outhouse roof is hipped at the
front end.
Interior: of the main block is largely the result of the C19 and C20 modernisations
although the early layout is still preserved. Tnere is a heavily restored late C16
- early C17 oak plank-and-muntin screen along the former hall side of the passage
and another similar screen is said to have been removed from the other side. In
both rooms the beams are boxed in and the fireplaces are blocked by C20 grates. The
former inner room (now in the outhouse) has a C20 beam and much of the outer walls
have been rebuilt. However much of the original roof survives. It was originally 3
bays (including the inner room end). Now only the truss over the former hall -inner
room partition remains; it is a side-pegged jointed cruck. The other truss (over
the hall-passage partition) was removed in the early C20 although the original
purlins and ridge were left (and propped up). There is an original hip cruck at the
service end. The roof over the former inner room section has been rebuilt although
the stubs of the purlins show that it extended over that part of the house. All the
original timbers (and including the common rafters, battens and original thatch
which still remains at the front over the main block section) are heavily smoke-
blackened from the original open hearth fire. There is evidence of a smoke louvre
over the former hall.
The outhouse/former parlour crosswing has late C16 - early C17 carpentry detail.
The parlour itself has a 4-panel ceiling of richly-moulded intersecting beams and
the exposed joists are moulded with step stops. The former buttery has a chamfered
and step-stopped crossbeam. The roof structure is C19 and carried on a series of
king post trusses, however the front (north) wall has the posts of the original
side-pegged jointed cruck trusses.
Upton Farmhouse forms a group with its adjacent courtyard of traditional
farmbuildings (q.v). In front of the house stands a cast iron statue of the Blue
Boy. It is one of the original 4 from the School of St Johns Hospital in Exeter
which was destroyed by bombing in 1943. The farmhouse still belongs to the St Johns
Hospital Charity.

Listing NGR: ST0213300562

External Links

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