Description

TAWSTOCK
SS 53 SW
1/64 Upcott Farmhouse
-
II

Farmhouse. Probably mid C16, remodelled in early C17 and extended c. 1700 with C20
alterations. Rendered cob and stone. Thatch roof with gable ends. Slate roof to
rear service wing. Rear lateral hall stack with tall rendered shaft and rendered
stack at left end.
Multiphase plan development. Former open hall house, originally 3 room and through-
passage plan, the lower end demolished in early C20 and a partition introduced
across the through-passage to create a lobby entry, the rear doorway being blocked.
There is a second entrance into the inner room which appears to have been abandoned
as the parlour c. 1700 when another was added at its left end and a gable ended 2
storeyed service wing to its rear.
2 storeys. 4 window range. C20 fenestration, mainly 2 light casements, 6 panes per
light. C20 Doric porch to inner room entrance and C20 door to former through-
passage at right end.
Interior Chamfered surround to 4 centred arched doorway between hall/through-
passage, a plank and muntin screen continuing to its right having been removed, a
concealed section to the left uncovered at time of survey. Chamfered cross beam to
hall and hollow step-stopped fireplace lintel. Boxed in beam to former inner room.
4 panelled doors from this room to hall and added parlour which has a section of
moulded plasterwork cornice surviving to the gable end wall. Old ledged 3 plank
door between kitchen/dairy to rear service wing. Interesting roof structure. 2
probably C18 trusses with roughly hewn principals and side-pegged collars to over
added parlour end. Over the hall and inner room are two C16 raised cruck trusses
with 2 tiers of trenched purlins and ridge purlin and morticed and tenoned cranked
collars. The truss over the hall, including the purlins, battens and underside of
the thatch is thoroughly smoke-blackened; the cob partition rising to the apex of
the roof beteween the hall and inner room is smoke-blackened on the hall side only,
and the truss and roof members over the inner room are clean. This suggests the
farmhouse was built in a transitional period with the hall still open to the roof,
but the inner room ceiled from the beginning. Probably in the C17 the hall itself
was floored over; at the same time the ridge was raised when the front wall was
built out about a metre from the original line.

Listing NGR: SS5428130972

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26545425

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

• 
  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability
• 
  [(Shropshire)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1958)
• 
  Period property manual, victorian house manual 2 books collection set by ian rock
• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings
• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2
• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)