Description

MEETH
SS 50 NW
Woolladon Farmhouse
3/178
- II*
GV
Farmhouse. 1666. Plastered cob walls. Gable ended thatch roof. 2 brick gable end
stacks; rubble axial stack with dripcourse and brick shaft.
Plan: 3-room-and-through-passage plan, lower end to the right, with probably integral
rear outshut and stairs, 2 storey porch and adjoining outshut in front of lower end of
hall. Lower and inner rooms heated by gable end fireplaces, hall has stack backing
onto passage. Small outshut at front of hall is likely also to be C17 and may have
been a dairy or buttery. The rear outshut incorporates 2 small rooms, one behind the
hall and one behind the inner room, which have since been blocked off and have no
access. The stairs are in 2 parts - both reached from the hall but one flight rises
behind hall to reach chambers over lower end and passage. The other flight rises
behind the inner room and gives access to the chambers over the hall and inner room
and also 2 small rooms on the first floor of the outshut. There are no post C17
additions and this remarkably interesting plan survives unaltered.
Exterior: 2 storeys, 3 storeys to porch. Asymmetrical 5-window front with storeyed
porch to right of centre. The first floor retains its original 4-light chamfered
wooden mullion windows with true mitres apart from the first floor porch window which
has moulded mullions. Above it on 2nd floor is a 2-light chamfered wooden mullion
window. On ground floor to right of porch is C20 3-light wooden casement with similar
window to left on ground floor. Hall window to left of centre is original 4-light
ovolo-moulded wooden mullion. To left of porch is outshut with 3-light wooden mullion
window. Gabled porch has heavy square-headed wooden frame with broad chamfer. The
porch has a wooden seat in either side. Inner doorway has square-headed double roll-
moulded wooden frame with high stops and a contemporary oak studded door divided into
2 panels by moulded stiles. Inside the porch above the outer doorway is the date 1666
in high relief plasterwork with initials next to it.
Rear elevation has 2 full height leantos the one to left of centre is shallower. The
right-hand leanto has an original chamfered 3-light wood mullion window to right on
ground floor and a similar blocked window to the left. Between them is a C20 window
lighting the stairs. Similar mullion window on right end wall of leanto. Left-hand
leanto has a blocked 3-light window mullion in the angle with the leanto projecting to
its right. Passage rear doorway towards left-hand end. Projecting from either end of
the house rear wall is a cob wall forming an enclosed courtyard the fourth side of
which is completed by the outbuilding to rear of the house (q.v.).
Interior: the original fireplace openings have been blocked or concealed and no
ceiling beams are exposed - it is possible that by this later C17 date the house was
built with plastered ceilings. However, numerous C17 wooden chamfered doorframes
survive - from the passage to the hall, into the inner room and front outshut and from
the hall to the stairs. At the head of each stair is a double chamfered doorframe and
there are 2 more to either side at the head of the left-hand staircase. The right-
nand staircase is a straight flight constructed of solid oak treads. The roof space
was only partially accessible and the timbers seen were not smoke blackened. The
trusses are straight principals but further constructional features were not visible -
it is likely, however, that the C17 roof still survives.
This iaa particularly important house, being dated, because single phase later cli
houses are unusual in Devon. Furthermore it has been very little altered since the
C17, both internally and externally and preserves an interesting variation on the 3-
room-and-through-passage plan. It forms part of an unaltered farm complex.

Listing NGR: SS5267107589

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17537694

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

• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Sheffield and the South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Handbook 2 Books Bundle Collection (Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair,Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability)
• 
  Surrey (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)