History

Medieval house possibly late C14 in origin, later a farmhouse, damaged by fire 1997. Part of the lands of Talley Abbey in the C14, owned by William Prydderch in the C16. Owned by David Painter in the 1840s. Though much altered in the late C19 when the roofs were rebuilt and W front rewindowed, it is still essentially a late medieval house with hall range and service range in the cross-wing. Although the interior timbers are destroyed or damaged with the possible exception of the moulded beam, the medieval interior stonework is preserved.

Exterior

Farmhouse, whitewashed rubble, formerly with slate roof. Substantial stone chimneys at S end of crosswing and on N wallface of main range. Small brick stack on E gable of main range. Two storeys, L-plan, crosswing to W with 2-window farmyard front, formerly of three late C19 horned 12-pane sash windows with brick voussoirs and one 2-light casement window to ground floor left; boarded door to right reached by outside stairs, beside which is an outbuilding altered to monopitch garage. Massive chimney breast to the S gable-end, with two offsets on W, and now with modern brick head. N gable end has ground floor window with older and wider timber lintel. One window above. Main range, set back to left, had horned 4-pane sashes, one each side to first floor, one to left, one right of centre below. Front door to right with curious rectangular recess over. Said to have segmental pointed relieving arch over door, now boarded over. A tall rubble stone chimney rises from the front wall left of centre. A straight joint below stack may indicate a lost NE wing (indicated on 1841 Tithe map). That the W crosswing is later than the NE main range is indicated by internal detailing and by the fact that they are not bonded in to each other. Broad E gable has a battered base towards N and a straight joint. Left side has C20 window each floor to right of rubble stone projection with traces of blocked stone voussoir doorway. The S wall has traces of a stair light and a former doorway into space at foot of stairs, now window. Running S from SE corner of the main range is a later single-storey outbuilding that contained a grain-drying kiln. Staggered (to'r brat) slates to roof, square rubble S end chimney stack and offset W door to centre, window to right.

Interior

Lost in the fire were the roofs, that were all of c1900, though there had been remnants of a rich late medieval roof in 1855 and 1860, a broad stair possibly late C17 or early C18 and the floors and doors. The floor beams suggested an inserted floor of c1600. The fire has left revealed the elements of the medieval house. On the main range the N door gave onto the former cross passage, with on the W side 2 medieval stone doorways into the crossway. Above, on 5 stone corbels, is a beam under a (reset) moulded medieval beam that may have been a gallery frontal. Of the 2 doorways, the right doorway is of dressed stone, pointed with hollow chamfer moulding; the left door is much damaged. Each end of the cross-passage wall are rebates for the front and rear doors. There is a vaulted passage through the thickness of the S wall at the S end of the cross-passage. There are traces of medieval openings on the inside of the N wall and the big lateral fireplace was narrowed when the adjacent window was inserted and has a narrower fireplace with stone voussoirs. There may have been a medieval oriel or bay window to the right of the fireplace. The E wall has a post-medieval fireplace, but fragments of a medieval moulded stone fireplace are reset below and behind the arch. S wall incorporates a thick mural stone stair rising from a broad semi-elliptical arched recess. The recess had a medieval window in the S wall, now modern, the relieving arch probably original. E and W sides of the recess have fine pointed doorways perhaps C14 like those in cross-passage, the W door giving onto stair. The stair is vaulted at the base and then slab roofed. The E door gives onto a vaulted blocked passage through E wall, perhaps originally to a garderobe or privy. At the top of the stairs is a blocked access to the first floor of the crosswing.
The crosswing was much rebuilt in the C19. Large C16 S end fireplace some 2m wide with dressed stone voussoirs and rough stone relieving arch over.

Reasons for Listing

Listed despite fire damage for the survival of important features in the stonework of the interior, indicating a rare example of a high-status medieval house.

External Links

• Cadwr Listing
• Wikidata Q29492370

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: York and the East Riding (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects, Supplement 2014
• 
  England's Post-War Listed Buildings
• 
  Worcestershire Revised Edition (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  For the Record