Description

SX 39 NE CLAWTON

3/1 Blagdon Farmhouse
-
- II

Farmhouse. Early C17 origins, C18 and C19 alterations. Cob on stone rubble footings
and stone rubble, partly whitewashed and plastered, partly hung with rag slates on
the courtyard side. Slate roofs hipped and gabled at ends, 6 chimney stacks: the
main (east) range has 2 axial stacks, a C19 brick chimney shaft to the rear and a
gable end stack to the C19 wing; the west range has a massive axial stack and a gable
end stack.
Complex development. The plan is of 3 ranges round a narrow central courtyard, the
south range is shorter, linking the longer east and west ranges. The east range
has a crosswing at the north end. The evolution of the house is now entirely clear
owing to the development of the east range in the C18 and C19. The east range may
have been the early hall range served by a kitchen range at the west; alternatively,
the west range, which is clearly early C17 in the origin may have been a hall range
reduced in status to a kitchen when the east range was added in the later Cl7. The
linking south range may also be C17 in origin. The east range was originally single
depth and 3-rooms wide and the C17 axial stack to the north may have been the hall
stack. There is no obvious evidence of a passage. In the circa early C18 a central
rear stair projection and rear left and right single-storey lean-tos give an
additional half room width to the earlier single-depth arrangement. in the C19 a cross wing was added at the right (north) end, and the internal partitions were
altered. The west wing has also evolved; it is single depth and 3-rooms wide in
plan but the south end is slightly set back and may be an addition of the C18 or
C19. The middle ground floor room is early Cl7 with a massive fireplace at the south
end, the north end of the C19 crosswing projecting at the right (north) end.
Asymmetrical 4-window front with a C19 half-glazed door with margin glazing to the
left and a large C19 porch into the left return of the crosswing. C19 sash windows
throughout except for first floor window right which is C20. The sashes are 4-pane,
ground floor window right is a paired sash. The right return of the wing has a canted
bay window with a lead tent roof and sash windows, 1 ground floor tripartite sash
and 2 first floor sashes with glazing bars. The west elevation of the west wing
has a gabled stone porch on the front to the right, a first floor gabled dormer and
C19 fenestration of casement windows with glazing bars and one 4-pane sash. The
courtyard, paved with pitched stones is completed by a cob wall linking the east
and west ranges.
Interior: The east range has some C18 joinery and a C18 stair with boxed-in balusters.
Ground floor room rear right has boxed-in cross beams and C17 joists with scatch
mouldings are said to exist behind the ceiling plaster. The putative C17 hall has
a good C19 chimney piece, some fragments of C17 and C19 panelling exist on the first
floor, probably not in situ. The west range preserves a C17 ground floor room with
a chamfered cross beam with runout stops and a massive partly blocked fireplace with
stone rubble jambs. The right-hand room in the range has a chimney stack abutting
the C17 stack, a large open fireplace with cloam oven and a feature that may be a
smoking chamber. Roofspaces not inspected but may be of interest. Blagdon Manor
is an extremely interesting example of an evolved house of C17 origins and high
status. The interior has been very little altered since the C19 and the survival
of the external slatehanging round the small courtyard is a particularly attractive
feature of the building. The Domesday "Blakedon" formed a sub-manor of Claueton.

Listing NGR: SX3694096985

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26617811

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

• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Period Property Manual (New Ed)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990: Updated version
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of History Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas