Description

ROMANSLEIGH
SS 71 NW
3/44 Higher Thornham Farmhouse and
attached farmbuildings
20.2.67
- II*
Farmhouse. Circa early C16, remodelled in circa early to mid C17, and some minor
C19 alteration. Rubble and cob, rendered and colourwashed, straw-thatched gabled
roof, 2 stacks with brick shafts.
Plan: 3-room and through-passage plan, the lower end to left is an alteration to a
farmbuilding. At least the hall and inner room of the original house were probably
open to the roof. In the early/mid C17 the house was substantially remodelled; an
axial stack was built at the lower end of the hall backing onto the passage; floors
were inserted in hall and inner room, and the front wall of the higher end of the
hall and the front wall of the inner room were rebuilt forward of the original front
creating a hall-bay and a high-quality parlour with a gable and stack. Alternatively
the rebuilding forward of this wall may be a later alteration. The hall functioned
as a kitchen and has access to the chambers above via a stair-turret added at the
back in early to mid C17. Probably at the same time in the C17 the lower end seems
to have been reduced to a farmbuilding, although it may originally have been a
farmbuilding. Another farmbuilding with a loft above was added at the higher right
and probably C18. In the C19 the inner room was partitioned axially to provide a
dairy at the back and therefore reducing the size of the parlour at the front.
Interior: retains much of interest. Through-passage with a flagstone floor. The
higher side of the passage with a doorway with a moulded head beam to former screen;
just inside the doorway into the hall a chamfered half-beam. Hall fireplace backing
onto the through-passage with a chamfered timber lintol, C19 mantle set over oven.
Hall with a chamfered cross-beam with fluted cyma stops and scratch-moulded joists.
Tudor arch ovolo-moulded doorframe to stair-turret. Pair of chamfered doorframes
with cranked heads at top of stairs to first floor chambers. Plank and muntin
screen dividing hall from parlour which was itself later divided into 2 rooms.
Parlour with moulded cross beam and half-beams around the walls with 2 rolls, and
cyma moulds, and scratch-moulded joists. Parlour fireplace blocked and a good C19
cast-iron grate inserted. First floor divided into 2 large rooms.
Exterior: 2 storeys, 3-window frontage, late C19 2 and 3-light casements with
horizontal glazing bars. Door opening to left with plank door.
Roof: the roof space is inaccessible, but the feet of a raised cruck truss are
visible in the chamber over the hall, on the higher side of the inserted hall stack.
This is a high quality early to mid C17 remodelling of what must have been an open
hall house. The internal carpentry is particularly good and the house has been
virtually unaltered since the C19.

Listing NGR: SS7360818213

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17532412

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

• 
  Derbyshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of Historic Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)