Description

HIGHAMPTON
SS 50 NW
3/98 Totleigh Barton
-
- II
House, originally farmhouse. Circa early C16 with C17 alterations. Plastered cob
walls. Gable ended thatch roof. Projecting plastered rubble gable end stacks with
brick shafts. Plastered rubble and brick axial stack.
Plan: the plan is basically that of 3 rooms with through passage and small wing at
the front - its development, however, is more complex than this suggests and the
evolution of room functions is still problematic. The house undoubtedly has
medieval origins - it stands on a very early moated site - but the problems lie in
the fact that the earliest features exist in the wing, which must presumably be an
addition. The main range consists of- lower end to the left with a very wide passage
and the hall beyond heated by a stack backing onto the passage. At the right end is
the inner room. What complicates this plan is the surprising depth of the house -
the hall is deeper than it is long - and the fact that the lower room was probably a
parlour whereas the inner room probably functioned as a kitchen, the width of the
passage is also unusual. These factors may all be accounted for by a heavy C17
remodelling of the medieval house which possibly also involved building out the rear
wall by several feet. If the medieval house were divided internally only by low
partitions the plan or proportions of the rooms could have been substantially
altered in the C17 leaving little evidence of the earlier form. One hypothesis,
however, is that the room arrangement_has been completely turned round - the present
wide passage being the original inner room and the present inner room originally
having been the passage and lower room which has been truncated. The wing is still
problematic however - its position in front of the passage suggests a porch, but its
proportions do not seem right and it has an early window at the front on the ground
floor. Its first floor room is heated. In the C19 or early C20 the lower left-
hand end was divided lengthwise into 2 rooms and an outshut added in front.
Exterior: 2 storeys. Asymmetrical 4-window front with wing projecting at centre
with C19 or early C20 outshut to its left. Mainly late C19 and early C20 casements
of 2 and 3 lights. First floor window to right of centre is C17 3-light chamfered
wooden mullion. The ground floor window to the front of the wing is an early C16
2-light wooden mullion with 4-centred heads and recessed spandrels. On the first
floor left-hand side of the wing is a very small arched head single light window.
Outshut has plank door at right-hand end. C20 leanto porch to right with part-
glazed door.
Interior: many of the internal walls and partitions retain their old lime plaster.
The right-hand room has an open fireplace with rough wooden lintel and chamfered
axial ceiling beams. The hall has a C17 doorframe to right-hand room with chamfered
and stopped wooden jambs. The very wide fireplace has had its lintel replaced but
retains its hollow chamfered granite jambs. To the right of the fireplace, high up
on the wall, is a carved granite stone, possibly a candle holder. At the front of
the wall between hall and right-hand room is a hatch which incorporates the cranked
head to a wooden doorframe. Left-hand room fireplace has chamfered and ogee stopped
wooden lintel. A steep flight of stone steps leads from the hall to the first floor
room of the wing and there is a blocked C17 chamfered wooden mullion window in the
front wall here. The room has a fireplace with corbelled wooden lintel.
Roof: there is one roof truss over wing which has slightly curved feet and cranked
morticed collar. A similar roof truss survives over the left-hand end of the house,
also un-smokeblackened. Over the hall and higher end the roof has been completely
replaced in the C19 and probably raised at the same time.

Listing NGR: SS5058806347

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26611980

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

• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990: Updated version
• 
  London 4: North: North v. 4 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cambridgeshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gloucestershire 1: The Cotswolds: Cotswolds Pt. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)