Description

SS 81 SE CRUWYS MORCHARD HOOKWAY LANE
2/87 Hookway Farmhouse
-
II
Farmhouse. Late medieval origins, remodelled in the circa late C16/early C17;
internal re-arrangement of late C17/early C18, late C20 re- roofing and
refenestration. Stone rubble, colourwashed and rendered to the front elevation ;
asbestos slate roof (formerly thatched), gabled at ends; 2 projecting rear lateral
stacks with stone and brick shafts, left end stack.
Although the roof structure is a late C20 replacement the old timbers were smoke-
blackened and the original plan must have been a late medieval open hall house. The
present plan is 4 rooms wide with an entrance in the middle facing a straight stair
and narrow rear service rooms in single-storey lean-tos. After the flooring of the
medieval house the plan form appears to have been a traditional 2 or 3 room and
through passage arrangement (lower end to the right) with the hall and lower end
kitchen heated by rear lateral stacks. The left end of the house (the inner room) is
more difficult to date as there is a thick cross wall between it and the hall: it
could be a rebuilding of extension of the late C17. In the circa late C17/early C18
the house was refurbished and a wide stair inserted into the former passage. The
right end room, adjoining the lower end room, may be an addition of the late
C17/early C18 phase. The rear service rooms are particularly interesting to the plan
as the left hand lean-to, at least, appears to be integral with the original
building. The rear service rooms enclose the bases of the rear lateral stacks and
were formerly used as dairies.
2 storeys. Asymmetrical 6 window front with a front door to the former passage to
left of centre with a porch canopy on moulded brackets. C20 fenestration throughout
in enlarged embrasures. Additional doorway on front at extreme right.
Interior : The late C16/early C17 hall (left of the front door) has 3 steeply angled
moulded late.C16/early C17 cross beams (1 partly cut away at the soffit) with some
late repair. The open fireplace has a fine bolection-moulded timber surround. The
rear wall of the hall is only a partition wall with a doorway through to the rear
left dairy; the cross beams rest on the partition wall. Doorways in the upper end
wall of the hall give access to the inner room and to a flight of straight stairs
against the rear wall of the inner room. The principal stair faces the front door
and has a late C17/early C18 balustrade on the first floor with a co-eval finial and
bobbin-turned balusters. The lower end room has a plastered-over cross beam and an
open fireplace with stone rubble jambs, an ovolo-moulded step-stopped C17 lintel
concealed by C19 timber and 2 C19 bread ovens. The first floor room left has a circa
late C17/early C18 bolection-moulded chimneypiece with a C19 grate. An axial passage
has been inserted on the first floor, dividing another first floor fireplace from the
room it originally heated. The fireplace is blocked (chimneypiece in possession of
owner).
Hookway is a substantial farmhouse with good interior features; other features may be
concealed behind modern plaster.
According to Margaret C.S. Cruwys, Hookway is first documentation in the C15, A
Cruwys Morchard Notebook, 1066-1874 (1939). Documented of the late C18 and early
C19, relating to the house are in the possession of the owner.

Listing NGR: SS8967710516

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26546044

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

• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
• 
  Building Small Projects (New Best of Fine Woodworking)
• 
  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)