Description

SX 79 SE CHERITON BISHOP

10/5 Gorwyn Farmhouse

II*

Farmhouse, now house. Probably C15, with C16 and C17 improvements, C17 and C18 extensions; modernised circa 1960. Plastered cob on rubble footings; stone stacks of dressed volcanic stone and granite, some topped with C19 brick; thatched roof. Original three-room-and-through-passage plan with inner room at north-west end. C17 wing behind inner room and C18 extension to service end and contemporary rear block behind. Now 2 storeys throughout, facing south-west. Axial stacks backing onto both sides of through passage and kithcen stack on gable end of C17 wing. 5 window front of C20 wooden casements, 2, 3 or 4 lights of different sizes, all with glazing bars. Chamber window above hall rises into thatch. Central door behind C20 open-sided timber porch with hipped thatched roof. Main roof is half- hipped to left, hipped to right, and C16 dressed granite stack projects above the ridge. Well-preserved interior of a house with a long and complex structural history. Smoke-blackened roof timbers and thatch over hall, inner room and passage suggests an original house heated by an open hearth fire and divided by low partitions. Two trusses survive over hall, both jointed crucks resting on wooden plates .75m above ground level. Truss towards inner room is a plain, face-pegged Jointed cruck but the other is unusually elaborate. The side-pegged jointed cruck truss has chamfered arch-bracing below the collar and evidence of a (removed) carved boss at the apex. The cruck posts are fashioned with a moulded false corbel on a chamfered shaft which descends below the present face to an area of rough face where carving (possibly an angel) has been removed. In later C16 full-height cob cross walls were inserted at the upper end of the hall and lower side of the passage, the inner room was floored with plain joists, a chamber created over the passage resting on a step stopped beam, the hall fireplace (dressed volcanic stone with oak lintel) inserted, and the small oak flat-arched door to right of fireplace may have led to stairs and passage chamber. Service room probably floored about same time but no beams exposed and granite fireplace rebuilt in C20. Hall floored in mid C17 with moulded beams and bar-runout stops. C19 kitchen block has stone fireplace with oak lintel and (rebuilt) brick side oven. Second rear block apparently rebuilt as service wing (possibly stables etc) with plain chamfered cross-beams and was converted into self-contained accommodation in C20 with south- east front in same style as main front. Pitched-stone courtyard to rear enclosed by wings and high cob wall with thatched top. An important farmhouse with most of its early structure preserved. The decorative false corbels and shafts of the hall cruck-posts may be unique in Devon.

Listing NGR: SX7817193745

External Links

• Wikidata Q17547970

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Recommended Books

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  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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