Description

WEST ALVINGTON
SX 74 SW
5/183 Easton Farmhouse
26.1.67
G.V. II

Farmhouse. Early C17 with C18 and C19 additions and alterations. Slatestone
rubble walls roughly coursed to right-hand part of main range and porch. Natural
and asbestos slates to roof, gabled at right-hand end and rear wing, hipped to
left and half-hipped to stair wing at rear. Brick axial stack and rendered brick
stack at right gable end and to rear wing, rendered stone axial stack with brick
shaft to left.
Plan: Originally probably a 2 room and through passage plan with small stair wing
at rear of passage, The larger room to the left probably funtioned as a
hall/kitchen with a large fireplace in its end wall. The smaller right-hand room
was heated by a fireplace backing onto the passage and may have been a parlour.
At the rear of the passage is a small wing which continues up to attic height with
a winding stair at the top and probably contained a similar or dog-leg stair
below, which has been replaced by a C19 staircase. To either side of this wing
are out shuts which were probably added in the later C18 or C19. In the early C18
the house appears to have undergone a minor remodelling internally and probably at
this stage a further unheated room was added at its left-hand end. Behind this
room a service wing extends to the rear which has been partly rebuilt earlier this
century.
Exterior: 2 storeys, with attic to right-hand part of house. Asymmetrical 5
window front of C19 2 and 3-light casements. Two thirds of the way along the
front to the left is a vertical straight joint and the ground foor window beyond
it has a brick arch above. To right of centre is a tall gabled 2 storey porch
with a round-arched doorway of stones set on edge. Behind it the inner doorway
has a C17 wooden ovolo-moulded doorframe with bar stops containing a heavy studded
oak plank door. To the right of the porch the eaves are higher and there are 2
dormer attic windows. The rear elevation of the house has a tall shallow wing to
left of centre with C17 ovolo moulded 2-light wooden mullion window at the top and
C19 transomed casement below: outshut to left and right of it and wing projecting
forwards from right-hand end.
Interior: on left of passage is a late C19 or C20 tongue and groove partition
which, judging from the headbeam above, replaces an earlier wooden screen. Room
to left has 2 ovolo-moulded cross beams and a wide fireplace with a similarly
decorated wooden lintel and dressed stone jambs. It has 2 ovens. This room has
an early C18 2 panel door, whereas there are 6 panel C18 doors to the rear of the
passage and into the right-hand room. This room has a fireplace with dressed
stone jambs and a wooden lintel which recently had to be replaced after the
fireplace had previously been broken through to make a doorway. On the first
floor there is another 6-panel door into the left-hand room which has two C18 2
panel cupboard doors. It also had a contemporary fielded panelled surround to the
window and window seat. The far end bedroom has another small C18 cupboard with
panelled doors in its front wall and one of an earlier appearance adjoining the
chimneystack which has bolection panelled doors. In the rear wall of the landing,
close to the stairs, is a C17 chamfered doorframe with a cranked head and
contemporary studded door which opens into a small room integral with the stair
wing. Over the original house are 4 pairs of principal rafters, and 1 pair over
the stair wing. This and the 2 over the centre part of the house have curved
feet. All the trusses have trenched purlins and collars halved and pegged onto
the principals which are morticed at the apex.
For the quality of its features it seems unusual that this house consisted
originally of only 2 rooms; subsequent extensions have not detracted from its
character and it preserves some good quality joinery of differing periods
internally.

Listing NGR: SX7258442775

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26402192

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Listed Buildings, Conservation Areas and Monuments
• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
• 
  Cornwall (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Drawing up a Local Listed Building Consent Order: Historic England Advice Note 6