Description

TALATON SY 09 NE 6/193 Stoney Court - GV II*

House. Late C15 - early C16 with major later C16 and C17 improvements, modernised circa 1980. Local stone rubble, parts including cob and also some late C17 red brick; stone rubble stacks topped with C19 and C20 brick; thatch roof. Plan and development: the main block faces north and has an altered 3-room-and- through-passage plan. At the left (east) end a small unheated inner room, probably a buttery or dairy originally. In the C20 it was united with the hall bay removing the partition between them. The hall has an axial stack backing onto the passage. The lower end is a parlour crosswing which projects at right angles to rear. The parlour has an axial stack backing onto a narrow unheated service end across the front. A newel stair rises alongside the parlour fireplace. A wing projects forward in front of the inner room end. It was originally detached but is now connected to the main block. It was a detached kitchen/bakehouse with servant accommodation over and has a disused front end stack. The train block is the historic core of the house, and here the lower end has been rebuilt. The original roof survives over the passage hall and inner room proving that the late C15 - early C16 house was open to the roof, divided by low partitions and heated by an open hearth fire. It is not clear when the inner room was first floored over since that end appears to have been refurbished again in the mid - late C17. The lower end was probably floored in the mid C16, certainly before the hall fireplace was inserted, probably in the late C16 -early C17. The lower end was rebuilt as a parlour kitchen in the early - mid C17 and the detached kitchen/bakehouse was provided in the mid - late C17. The hall was floored about the same time. House is 2 storeys with C20 lean-to outshot on right end of the front. Exterior: irregular 3-window front of various casements, the first floor windows are half dormers. The hall windows are mid - late C17 oak-framed windows but only the first floor window retains its ovolo-moulded mullions. The first floor right window is contemporary but nas chamfered oak mullions. The ground floor right window is late C17 oak with flat-faced mullions. The central first floor window is a C19 casement with glazing bars. The other windows contain mostly rectangular panes of leaded glass, some very old. The passage front doorway is right of centre. The frame is mid - late C17 and has a moulded surround; the door is C20, so too is the thatch-roofed porch with rustic trellis sides. The roof is hipped both ends. The former detached kitchen has a 2-window front of C19 casements with glazing bars and central doorway containing an old plank door. The roof is half-hipped both ends. Interior: although the hall has been enlarged by removing the upper end screen it is still in the house; it has been moved back to line the end wall and is an oak plank-and-muntin screen. It is very similar to the screen still at the lower end (between the hall and passage). Both have round-headed doorways, apparently altered from original shoulder-headed arches. Both may have been original low partition screens. Former hall and inner room have chamfered axial beams with pyramid stops. The hall stops accommodates the hall chimneystack. The fireplace is lined with C20 brick, its chamfered oak lintel is original. The lower side of the the passage is a C16 oak-framed crosswall, the lower section includes the remains of an oak plank- and-muntin screen. The roof over passage, hall and inner room is mostly original and includes 2 jointed cruck trusses, the one exposed is face-pegged. Both have small triangular yokes with diagonally set ridge (Alcock's apex type L1). The whole roof structure is remarkably complete with original purlins (missing the inner room hip cruck), common rafters couples, and the underside of the thatch is lined with wattling. It also includes a simple smoke louvre, a couple of pitched boards set transversely across the top of tne ridge into and through the thatch ridge. The roof once continued over the service but was replaced here in the early - mid C17 when the parlour wing was built. The parlour crossbeam is chamfered with step steps. The fireplace is plastered and the oak lintel has the same finish as the crossbeam. The newel stair has ancient oak stops. The roof is, of clean side-pegged jointed cruck trusses and A-frame trusses with simple lap-jointed collars. The former detached kitchen has very similar constructional detail. Here the stack has been removed to create more room on the first floor but its full width chamfered oak lintel remains. Stoney Court is a very interesting place. Not only is the surviving late medieval house a very good example but also surviving detached kitchens are very rare.

Listing NGR: SY0670199585

External Links

• Wikidata Q17547485

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Recommended Books

• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  For the Record
• 
  London 3: North West: North West v. 3 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Liverpool: Pevsner City Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)