Description

DUNSFORD
SX 88 NW
6/22 Sowton Barton

-

GV II*

Large house. Circa C16 core, 2 phases of C17 remodelling and addition. Whitewashed
rendered cob on stone rubble footings, some granite to gable end wall of rear wing.
Thatched roof, half-hipped at left end, gabled at right end; end stacks, 2 granite
axial stacks, gable end stack to rear wing.
The medieval house extends from the left-hand axial stack to approximately 1 room in
from the right-hand wall, the lower end to the left. There is evidence in the
roofspace that it was a 3-room house with a central 2-bay hall divided from single
bay outer rooms by low screens. The outer bays were ceiled over first, possibly at
different dates, the hall remaining open until a later date in the C17 when the hall
stack was inserted which may have preceded the insertion of the hall ceiling. The
wing at the rear of the hall, which was probably a kitchen wing, may be coeval with
the ceiling over the hall. No through passage exists now, but there may have been a
passage behind the axial stack at the lower end of the hall. There is some evidence
of a former newel stair in the rear wing. The right-hand end of the house appears to
be a later addition: the left-hand lower end room may have been an outbuilding or
storage block and is separately roofed. In the C20 a flat-roofed single-storey
addition has been built in the angle between the rear wing and the left-hand end of
the house.
2 storeys. Long asymetrical 6-window front, the eaves thatch eyebrowed over the
first floor windows. C20 porch with hipped thatched roof on front at right, C20
glazed door in C20 doorway to the left of the axial hall stack. Small pane probably
C19 1- 2- and 3-light casements of 6 and 8 panes per light except for the window to
the left of the C20 glazed door which is a C17 4-light timber mullioned window with
deep chamfered mullions. The rear wing has a similar first floor 3-light mullioned
window on the left return and a very small 2-light timber mullioned window with
unmoulded round-headed lights which may have been a stair light to a stair leading to
the first floor of the left-hand end of the house. A ground floor window in the
kitchen wing preserves its stanchions and saddle bars and is probably also C17.
Interior A fine 4-bay medieval roof and considerable survival of C16 and C17
features. The medieval roof consists of jointed cruck trusses with cambered collars
mortised into the principals, threaded purlins and a diagonally-set ridge. the
rafters, thatch and battens are all heavily blackened. Closed trusses flank the 2-
bay hall, the left-hand closed truss infill is not sooted on the left-hand side,
although there does appear to be some sooting on the right-hand side of the right-
hand truss suggesting the possibility of 2 open hearths. The C17 hall has a large
fireplace with C20 grate: the C17 timber lintel, is moulded and still visible, the
chamfered jambs are large single pieces of granite. The hall has a chamfered cross
beam and a chamfered half-beam to the front wall and a rather odd arrangement of a
chamfered step stopped ceiling beam about 1 metre in front of the stack which extends
only half-way across the depth of the room. A fine oak plank and muntin screen with
wide planks and chamfered muntins at the inner end of-the hall has the remains of
what appears to be a Caernarvon arched doorway. To the left of the hall a chamfered
cross beam is truncated at a point that may indicate the left-hand of the former
passage. On the rear wall of this room, a partition wall, is an outstanding large
moulded timber doorway with a rounded head, probably of the C17 and, judging from its
relation to a jointed cruck, not in situ.
Sowton Barton was recorded 1244 (Hoskins). It is a fine example of a high status
medieval house with a rich history of evolution and fine external and internal
features.

Listing NGR: SX8336688845

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17535497

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

• 
  Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 6: Westminster (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England): Westminster v. 6
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]
• 
  For the Record