Description

KINGS NYMPTON
SS 62 SE
1/138 West Hele Farmhouse
15.9.76
- II
Farmhouse. Probably late C15, with C17 and C18 alterations, extended at rear in
early C19. Painted rendered stone rubble and cob. Half-hipped thatch roof. Brick
stack at left end and brick shaft to rear lateral hall stack which is enclosed by the
gable-ended rear wing which has asbestos slate roof with brick stack at right end.
Plan: 3-room and through-passage plan with lower end to left, the hall/through
passage partition removed in C20 when staircase was inserted in former passage. 2-
storey parallel service range to rear of hall and inner room and single storey
outshut to rear of lower end.
Development: the remarkably intact roof structure is smoke-blackened from end to end
with closed trusses on the lower side of the former passage and at upper end of hall,
both with partitions smoke-blackened on the hall side only, suggesting the lower end
and inner room were ceiled first, the hall last. The heavy smoke-blackening and the
rough ceiling beams throughout suggest a relatively late date for the sequence,
probably well into the C17, the hall possibly even ceiled in the C18.
Exterior: 2 storeys. 4-window range. C20 fenestration. Gabled thatch roof to
brick porch with shaped bargeboards.
Interior. Single cross ceiling beams to all 3 principal rooms, all unchamfered.
Cambered hall fireplace lintel replaced in C20. Internal cupboard with raised and
fielded panelled doors to front wall. Stair originally beside stack on lower side.
C19 joinery principally intact. Rear wing has kitchen fireplace with chamfered
timber lintel, bread oven and C19 brick oven to base of hearth.
Roof: remarkably intact late medieval roof structure, with 4 cruck trusses, all of
which are different. Over the inner room/hall partition is a jointed cruck truss
with a cranked morticed and tenoned collar. The purlins are lightly trenched. Most
of the original partition infill below the truss has been removed but the cob packing
between the truss and rafters survives which is smoke-blackened on the hall side
only. The second truss over the hall is a raised cruck with cranked morticed and
tenoned collar and an unusual apex consisting of a double yoke, the upper yoke
supporting the diagonally set ridge purlin. The third truss over the lower end is
also a raised cruck but with an arched collar with a thin soffit chamfer. These 3
trusses are situated to form 4 roughly equal-sized bays. However, over the partition
between the lower end and passage is a fourth truss with straight principals of a
much lighter scantling with an X apex and a thin halved and lapped cambered collar.
The wattle and daub partition is largely intact below the collar, smoke-blackened on
the hall side. Above the collar horizontal planking has been nailed to the face of
the truss and is also smoke-blackened. The truss itself is more heavily smoke-
blackened on the hall side and may therefore be a later insertion, the purlins being
interrupted at this point and merely resting on the backs of the principals. At each
end, the roof has been modified to a hipped structure re-using some of the rafters.
Immediately to the lower side of the hall truss, the battens to each side of the
ridge have been removed, and a peg-hole through the centre of the collar of the hall
truss suggests a possible smoke louvre may have existed. All the roof members,
including the battens, rafters and the entire underside of the thatch are very heavily
smoke-blackened, strongly suggesting the hall was ceiled at a relatively late date.

Listing NGR: SS6669220896

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26611315

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
• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Setting up a Listed Building Heritage Partnership Agreement: Historic England Advice Note 5
• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)