Description

SX 79 SW DREWSTEIGNTON

5/32
Drascombe Barton
22.2.67

GV II*

House, former farmhouse. Mid C17 with superficial late C19 modernisation.
Plastered cob on stone rubble footings; stone rubble stacks (the kitchen one maybe
cob) topped with C19 and C20 brick; thatch roof.
Plan and development: long building facing the farmyard to the north-east and built
down a gentle slope. It has an unusual and distinctive plan of 4 rooms and 2 2
through passages. The uphill right end room is the parlour and is terraced a little
into the slope. It has a gable-end stack. Between the parlour and hall is a
passage containing a C19 stair. Hall has an axial stack backing onto this, the top
passage. Downhill from the hall is an unheated dairy or store (now containing a
secondary stair), then the second through passage and, at the left end, the kitchen
with a large gable-end stack: The lower passage-has a 2-storey porch to rear which
suggests that the house has been turned round and originally faced south-west. The
purpose of the top passage is not clear and causes the only problem of
interpretation.' Alcock suggests that it was not a through passage but had a doorway
to the farmyard and contained the main C17 stair. This is very likely although both
hall and parlour fireplaces have alcoves alongside which could have contained winder
stairs. The house appears to be a single phase building but there was probably an
earlier house on the site which may have influenced the layout. 2 storeys
throughout.
Exterior: irregular 6-window front of C19 and C20 casements, those on the first
floor with thatch eyebrows over. Both front doors are C19; the lower one a plank
door, the upper one part-glazed and panelled. The roof is gable-ended. Rear has
similar fenestration but has less windows and some of the C20 ones have no glazing
bars. The gabled porch has a C20 door.
Good interior: is well preserved. The best rooms, the hall and parlour have
similar finishes. Both have crossbeams with broad ovolo mouldings and step stops.
The joists are scratch-moulded. At the downhill end of the hall there is an oak
plank-and-muntin screen with a scratch-moulded headbeam and ovolo-moulded and step-
stopped muntins above the original oak bench. The headbeam of a similar plank-and-
muntin screen shows between parlour and passage. The parlour fireplace is granite
ashlar with an ovolo-moulded oak lintel. It was formerly lined with decorative
sgraffito plaster. The hall has a larger fireplace of granite ashlar with a hollow-
Chamfered surround. The rear wall of the hall contains an original (that is to say
C17) cupboard with, its door carved with a diamond design. The dairy crossbeam is
soffit-chamfered with step stops. Stone rubble partition between dairy and lower
passage but the other side of tile passage is a flimsy C20 partition. The kitchen
crossbeam is soffit-chamfered with double bar-scroll stops. The kitchen fireplace
has a massive reused oak beam as its lintel, Soffit-chamfered with scroll stops for
its present use. The alcove to left contains 2 ovens. The alcove to right was
either a curing chamber or stair well. The lower passage has an oak shoulder-headed
doorframe, usually considered early C16 in date. It is probably reused but Alcock
cites C17 'revival' examples. Little C17 carpentry detail is now exposed on the
first floor although there are a couple of chamfered oak doorframes with scroll
stops. Most of the joinery detail is C19 including an unusal door with inlaid ebony
to the parlour.
The roof is made up of A-frame trusses with pegged lap-jointed collars and dovetail-
shaped halvings. The principals are lap-jointed onto vertical posts set in the
walls.
This farmhouse is both interesting and attractive and forms a group not only with
its front garden wall (q.v) butterwell (q.v) and cider house (q.v) but also with
Nattonhole (q.v) and Hobhouse (q.v) both important farmhouses less than 400m away.
Source: N. Alcock, Devonshire Farmhouses Part II some Dartmoor Houses. Trans.
Devon. Assoc. 101 (1969) pp 99-102.

Listing NGR: SX7012792007

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17537369

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: The Law and Practice of History Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2
• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings
• 
  Staffordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Setting up a Listed Building Heritage Partnership Agreement: Historic England Advice Note 5
• 
  Listed Buildings, Conservation Areas and Monuments