Description

ROMANSLEIGH
SS 71 NW
3/46 Lower Kingstree
20.2.67
- II*
Farmhouse. Circa late C15 or early C16, remodelled and extended in late C16 or
early C17 and extended again in C18 or C19, some late C20 alterations. Rubble to
left part, rubble and cob to right part which is rough-plastered and colourwashed,
reed-thatched roof with gable ends, stacks with high C19 brick shafts.
Plan: 3-room and through-passage plan, single room depth. Unheated lower end to
the right; hall heated from a lateral stack at the front and the large inner
room/parlour to the left has a gable end stack and its front wall is in line and
integral with the halls lateral stack. Originally there may not have been an inner
room, and the hall was probably open to the roof. A floor was inserted into the
hall in circa late C16, or early C17, when a lateral stack was built at the front,
and a relatively large parlour added at the higher (left) end. There is a solid
wall rising to the apex of the roof on the lower right side,of the passage and it is
not known whether the unheated lower right room was also originally open to the
roof. An outshut was added at the back of the hall and parlour in the late C18
containing a kitchen and a dairy.
Exterior: 2 storeys, 3:2 windows, 2 and 3-light mid C19 casements with small panes
and glazing bars. Door opening to right with mid C19 4-panelled door, top 2 cut
away and glazed. Slated lean-to at rear with C19 casements, added C19 chimney to
heat lean-to.
Interior: retains much of interest. Lower room on ground floor with a chamfered
axial ceiling beam with step and run-out stops, joists appear to be original.
Through-passage with a chamfered cross-ceiling beam to each side, to right above the
wall between the passage and lower room, to left a head beam above a plank and
muntin screen, doorway into lower room, wooden surround with a chamfered cambered
head. Screen altered with some of the planks removed and their place taken by
glass, also some late C16 or early C17 panelling set over, terminating by the front
door in a pilaster with a richly carved capital. Cambered head door opening remains
to the hall which has a front lateral stack with massive replaced wooden bressumer
ceiling in 3 panels, with intersecting chamfered beams which have pyramid stops,
adjacent to fireplace a bench on 2 sides of the hall , part with late C16 or early
C17 moulded panelling to its back. Upper-room doorway with chamfered frame, ogee
stops, chamfered cross-beam, plastered over and with plastered mouldings, fireplace
with brick arch. First floor reached by a C19 staircase rising from the through-
passage, elm floorboards, C19 division into small featureless rooms except upper
room with a small fireplace adjacent a cupboard with a door made up of 2 panes of
C17 panelling. Closed truss-wall directly above the plank and muntin screen of the
through-passage.
Roof: roof space not accessible. The feet of the trusses are straight, but the
truss over the hall is partly exposed in a partition; it appears to be smoke-
blackened, and has a mortised collar, and the foot of the principal at the front may
have been cut off by the insertion of the halls lateral stack.

Listing NGR: SS7148619456

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17532424

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

• 
  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 6: Westminster (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England): Westminster v. 6
• 
  For the Record
• 
  ENGLAND GUIDE TO POST WAR LISTED: A Guide to Post-war Listed Buildings