Description

CLYST HYDON
ST 00 SW
2/32 Town Tenement Farmhouse
-
GV II*

Farmhouse. Early C16 with major later C16 and C17 improvements, some C19
modernisation. Plastered cob on stone rubble footings, much brick patching in the
rear wall; stone rubble and cob stacks topped with c19 and C20 bitumen-brick; coated
slate roof, formerly thatch.
Plan and development: 3-room-and-through-passage plan house facing south-south-
west, say south, and built on level ground. The left (west) end room is a small
inner room parlour with a gable-end stack. Next to it is the former hall which has
an axial stack backing onto the passage. The passage has been widened to
accommodate the C19 stair at the expense of the lower end room which is now the
kitchen and has a gable-end stack.
In fact the present room functions are the result of the C19 modernisations. The
original early C16 house was an open hall house. Only the inner room was floored
over at the time and then the chamber jettied into the upper end of the hall. The
inner room itself was slightly smaller and unheated; probably a dairy or buttery.
The rest of the house was open to the roof, divided by low partitions and heated by
an open hearth fire. The lower end appears to have been lengthened at an early
stage since there are 2 phases of the smoke-blackened roof. Around the mid or late
C16 an oak-framed fire hood or smoke bay was built over the hall fireplace backing
onto the passage. The service end was probably floored over about the same time but
there is no evidence of this since that end was much altered in the late c1? when
the service end room was converted to a parlour with a new gable-end stack. The
hall itself was floored over in the early - mid C17. it the same time that the
parlour was built the smoke hood/smoke bay was replaced by a stone rubble stack and
a new kitchen fireplace was built below. In the c19 a stair was inserted alongside
the passage taking out part of the C17 parlour. It was probably at this time that
the parlour was converted to kitchen use and the former hall/late C17 kitchen became
the dining room. Also the inner room was given a stack and converted to a parlour.
It was apparently enlarged by moving the upper hall partition to sit below the jetty
bressumer.
The farmhouse is 2 storeys with C19 lean-to outshots across the rear.
Exterior: irregular 5-window front of C19 and C20 casements, most without glazing
bars. The passage front doorway is right of centre and it contains a late C19 -
early C20 part-glazed 4-panel door. The roof is gable-ended.
Interior: is well preserved and includes features from all the main building
phases. The passage was lined both sides with oak plank-and-muntin screens. The
screen on the lower side is of uncertain date since most of the planks and muntins
were removed in the C19 when the present staircase was inserted. The upper side
screen is much better preserved and it is an original low partition screen. The
hall stack was built behind it. The lower end room, the C17 parlour/present
kitchen, has late C17 crossbeam and half beams; they are chamfered with bar roll
stops. The fireplace here is blocked although its chamfered and scroll-stopped oak
lintel shows. The cupboards alcove to right was built for a newel stair. In the
hall the early - mid C17 crossbeam has deep chamfers and pyramid stops. In the back
wall the beam is propped by a chamfered and scroll-stopped post. It is C17 but
maybe secondary. An alcove in the back wall may represent the position of a former
stair turret. The fireplace is late C17; it has local brick jambs and a chamfered
and scroll-stopped oak lintel. It includes an oven. The back wall of the fireplace
is stone rubble. It maybe earlier since the oak screen behind would have needed
protection during the smoke hood/smoke bay phase. Part of the mid - late C16 oak-
framed smoke hood/smoke bay survives at first floor level over the back wall of
fireplace. The studs have individual holes drilled in their sides to take
individual lathes and provide a ladder backing for the cob infil. It is heavily
sooted on the hall side. Unfortunately too little remains of the structure to
enable a reconstruction of its original form. At the upper end of the hall is
another original oak plank-and-muntin screen. The posts are chamfered with cut
diagonal stops (the pointed arch is a C20 insertion). It appears that this screen
was moved forward a short distance in the C19. There is no carpentry detail showing
in the inner room. It probably had its ceiling raised in the C19.
The roof was built in 2 phases. The original roof remains over the passage, hall
and inner room. It is carried on side-pegged jointed crucks in which the cruck feet
apparently descend right to the ground. There is an original closed truss between
the hall and inner room chambers. The roof structure is clean on the inner room
side. The rest is smoke-blackened from the original open hearth fire. The 2-bay
section of the roof over the lower end has timbers of lighter scantling and there
are minor constructional differences here. Nevertheless the whole structure is
smoke-blackened. It must have been built before the smoke bay.
Town Tenement is a good example of a multi-phase Devon farmhouse with late medieval
origins.

Listing NGR: ST0336401485

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17546980

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

• 
  London 4: North: North v. 4 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)
• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 6: Westminster (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England): Westminster v. 6
• 
  Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East: Norwich and North-east v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)