Description

CHULMLEIGH
SS 71 NW
4/21 Lower Sheepsbyre
GV II

Farmhouse. Early to mid C17 but possibly earlier fabric concealed, with C19
alterations. Rendered stone rubble and some cob towards right end. Hipped thatch
roof. Brick stack at left end and tall rendered shaft to rear lateral hall stack
with offsets and bread oven projection.
Plan: 3-room and cross-passage plan with lower end to left and staircase filling the
passage, running from back to front. The inner room end has been divided axially
into 2 rooms with dairy at front and former pumphouse at rear; it appears always to
have been unheated. The parlour may always therefore have been at the left, lower
end. Outshut to rear right end.
Exterior: 2 storeys. 4-window range. C20 fenestration, all 3-light casements.
Ground floor inner room end is blind. Plank door the 2 upper panels glazed to
through-passage doorway. 3-light casement to upper storey at right end with
rectangular leaded lights.
Interior: hall has 2 cross ceiling beams with rich roll-hollow-ogee mouldings. Hall
fireplace has C19 lintel concealing original, with bread oven on left side and seat
recess on right side. Thin partitions to each side of passage and at upper end of
hall. The original c17 plank and muntin screen at the upper end of the hall has been
reused as the axial partition dividing the inner room end, with 1 section 4 planks
wide and another 2 planks wide, the latter incorporating a low doorway, now blocked.
The muntins and doorway are ovolo moulded on the dairy side, stopped about ½ metre
from the sill, with peg-holes suggesting a former integral hall bench, with straight
chamfers on the pump-house side. C19 staircase and joinery largely intact. Wood
quality early C19 roof structure with 6 King post trusses, the king posts dovetailed
into the tie beams and apexes, with raking struts no sign of smoke-blackening.
Lower and Higher Sheepsbyre (q.v.) are an interesting pair of closely situated early
farmhouses, both south facing and with adjacent front farm courtyards, both of which
retain relatively unspoilt ranges of farm buildings.

Listing NGR: SS7281915797

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26459518

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 and Other Heritage Assets
• 
  Listed Buildings, Conservation Areas and Monuments
• 
  The Victorian House Manual (2nd Edition): How They Were Built, Improvements & Refurbishment, Solutions to All Common Defects - Includes Relevant ... ... Properties (Haynes Manual) (Haynes Manuals)
• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Farrow & Ball How to Decorate: Transform your home with paint & paper
• 
  Period Property Manual (New Ed)