Description

SY 09 SW CLYST HONITON

3/20 Treasbeare Farmhouse
-

- II

Farmhouse. Probably early C16 with major early C17 improvements; modernised and
enlarged circa 1850-60. Plastered cob on rubble footings, replaced and patched with
C19 brick in places; the west side has 3 plastered stacks all with ashlar chimney
shafts, the rear 2 probably have ashlar stacks too but the front one is probably
brick, and the front block has another brick stack with C19 brick shaft; slate roof
although rear block was probably thatched before circa 1850-60.
L-shaped house. Now the main block faces south and the older west-facing house is
now relegated to service use. Before circa 1850-60 the house was apparently a 3-
room and through-passage plan house facing west with the service end at the right
(southern) end. Both hall and inner room have projecting front lateral stacks.
Circa 1850-60 an unheated dairy with store above was added to the inner room (the
northern end). At the same time the house was radically reorganised. New principal
rooms were provided in a southern crosswing comprising 2 rooms with projecting end
stacks and a stair behind the right (eastern) room in an extension of the original
through-passage. Probably at the same time the rear of the hall was rebuilt in
brick, possibly when the original stair was removed. 2 storeys throughout.
Symmetrical 4-window south front of circa 1850-60. The ground floor has French
windows with margin panes and a 4-bay glass-roofed verandah supported on timber
posts with shaped spandrels. The first floor has horned 4-pane sashes and the wall
here is clad with C20 asbestos slate. The roof is hipped each end. The west front
has an irregular 4-window front of C19 and C20 casements. The dairy extension at
the left end has only 2 narrow ventilators. Towards the right end is the front
doorway to the passage containing a C19 6-panel door with panelled reveals behind a
contemporary gabled and glass-roofed porch. Roof here is lower than the front block
and gable-ended to rear. The most imposing feature of this front is the 3
projecting stacks with ashlar chimney shafts and weathered offsets. The rear (left-
hand) stack has a probably C19 royal head fixed to the face.
Interior: the rear block appears to retain the intact C16 or C17 fabric of the hall,
passage and inner room although much is hidden by C19 plaster. Both hall and inner
room fireplaces are blocked. The inner room has a 3-bay ceiling carried on C17
soffit-chamfered and scroll-stopped crossbeams. The rear bay retains early C17
ornamental plasterwork; a good single rib ceiling with angle sprays, symbols of the
Trinity such as three hares and three fishes and individual naturalistic motifs such
as an owl, a peacock and a mermaid with comb and mirror. The inner room-hall
partition is a C17 oak plank-and-muntin screen, its muntins chamfered with scroll
stops. In the hall the beams are boxed in with C19 plaster. The roof is only
partially accessible. Over the inner room the 3-bay roof carried on A-frame trusses
with mortice, tenoned and pegged collars and soffit-chamfered and scroll-stopped
purlins. There is a close-studded closed truss partition to the hall where the
roofspace is inaccessible. Below the trusses of the 3-bay roof are plastered over
but appear to be either arch-braced or, more likely, jointed cruck trusses. Also it
is not known whether or not the roof here is smoke-blackened.
The front block is entirely C19 with moulded plaster cornices and a stick baluster
stair with a mahogony handrail. The roof here was not inspected.
The earliest documentary reference to Treasbeare is in 928 and from the Cll to 1983
the farm belonged to the Dean and Chapter of Exeter Cathedral. It is well-
documented, even down to the wills of several of its Cl6 and Cl7 occupants, and
contemporary surveys. From 1539 it was leased by the Yard family who later became
the Sainthill family and occupied the place into the Cl9.
Source: manuscript notes on the documentary history made by R T C Street (1971)

Listing NGR: SY0076394158

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26434205

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

• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects by Harwood, Richard (2012) Paperback
• 
  Nottinghamshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Buildings of England)
• 
  Sussex: East with Brighton and Hove (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Liverpool: Pevsner City Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)