Description

UPOTTERY
ST 20 NW
7/103 Highley Farmhouse including front
- garden walls
- II
Farmhouse. Early C16 with major later C16 and C17 improvements, late C18 kitchen
block. Plastered cob on local stone rubble footings; stone rubble stacks topped
with C19 and C20 brick; slate roof, formerly thatch.
Plan and development: L-plan building. The main block faces south-south-east, say
south, and it has a 3-room-and-through-passage plan. At the right (east) end there
is an unheated inner room, the former dairy. Next to it is the hall which has an
axial stack backing onto the passage. At the left (west) end is a room with a
gable-end stack. Until the late C18 this was a kitchen but it has been a parlour
since and a late C18 1-room plan kitchen block projects at right angles to rear of
the right (dairy) end.
The main block is the historic core of the house. Its original early C16 roof
remains and is smoke-blackened proving that the original house was open to the roof
from end to end, divided by low partitions and heated by an open hearth fire. In
the mid C16 the inner room (dairy) were floored over whilst the open hearth fire was
still in use. The hall stack was inserted in the mid - late C16. If the passage
and service end (the former kitchen) was floored over in the mid - late C16 as might
be expected it was rebuilt in the early - mid C17 when the service end room became a
kitchen. The hall was floored over in the same early - mid C17 refurbishment. The
present kitchen block was added in the late C18.
The farmhouse is 2 storeys with secondary outshots across the back of the main
block.
Exterior: irregular 4-window front of C20 timber casements without glazing bars.
The ground floor centre (hall) window has a large segmental arch over. The passage
front doorway is left of centre and contains a C19 plank door behind a C20 slate-
roofed porch. The main roof is half-hipped to right and gable-ended to right.
Good interior: although a good deal of the historic fabric is covered by C19 and
C20 plaster. For instance there is on the lower (former kitchen) side of the
passage an oak plank-and-muntin screen behind the plasterboard. The farmer reports
that it has wide planks and muntins and it may be an original low partition screen.
The hall, passage and service end (former kitchen) have similar early - mid C17
crossbeams; they are chamfered with bar run-out stops (the bars have been hacked off
the hall crossbeam). The former kitchen fireplace (also early -mid C17) is open but
its cheeks and pentan (back) are papered over. It has a plain chamfered oak lintel
and a blocked oven is suspected in the right cheek. A cupboard to left is thought
to be a former walk-in curing chamber. There is an old winder stair rising from the
rear of the passage on the hall side. The hall fireplace is blocked but its large
size is evident and its panelled Beers tone cheeks can be seen in cupboards either
side of the present grate. Above the fireplace is an early - mid C17 frieze of
ornamental plasterwork featuring a repeated motif of winged creatures. At the upper
(dairy) end of the hall there is an oak plank-and-muntin screen but it is only
exposed at the back in the former dairy where the muntins are unchamfered. The
crossbeam in the dairy is far from straight and roughly chamfered.
The main block roof is carrid on a series of probably side-pegged jointed crucks
(the bases of the trusses are papered over). They are original and all are smoke-
blackened from the open hearth fire. The truss over the hall/dairy partition was
closed in the mid C16 whilst the open hearth was still being used and its infil is
sooted on the hall side only.
The late C18 rear block has plain pine crossbeams and the kitchen fireplace here is
blocked. The roof is carried on A-frame trusses with staggered purlins tusk-tenoned
through the principals and with plate yokes.
The front garden is enclosed by a probably C19 low stone and flint rubble wall.
Highley is an interesting multi-phase Devon farmhouse.

Listing NGR: ST2215809698

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26461846

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

• 
  Harrow on the Hill: A photographic portrayal of listed buildings and structures (Historic Buildings Picture Guides)
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cornwall (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House