See important guidance on the use of this record.

If you have any comments or new information about this record, please email us.

Summary

A late medieval hall house dating to the late 14th or early 15th century which was substantially altered and enlarged in the 16th and 17th centuries.

Location

Protected Status

• Listed Building (II*) 1098289: SOUTH WOOD FARMHOUSE

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: ST20SW/20
• Old Listed Building Ref (II*)

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• FARMHOUSE (Built, XIV to XVII - 1301 AD (Between) to 1700 AD (Between))

Full description

DOE 1988, Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV103565.

South wood farmhouse. Late c15/early c16 with major later c16 and c17 improvements. Local stone and flint rubble with beerstone ashlar detail; stone rubble stacks and chimneyshafts, some topped with c20 brick; thatch roof. The main block faces east and it has a three room and through passage plan. The main block is the historic core of the house. Most of the original roof survives here and it indicates that the inner room end was originally 2 storeys and the rest was open to the roof, divided by low partitions and heated by an open hearth fire. Two storeys. Regular but not symmetrical 1:1:2 window front of mostly mid c17 beerstone ashlar windows with ovolo-moulded mullions. The two c17 ground floor windows have hoodmoulds. Above the first floor window is the 1655 date plaque. The porch has benches each side. Behind the rear outshot is the roofless remains of the early c17 porch to the passage rear doorway; its outer arch has an oak frame with a cambered head and ovolo-moulded surround. Good interior. The c17 kitchen (on the lower side of the passage) has chamfered and step-stopped axial beams. Here there is a massive beerstone ashlar fireplace with a chamfered oak lintel, the oven is relined with c19 brick. The newel stair rises round a post and includes, at first floor level, a grille of c17 oak balusters. Other features include: ornamental plasterwork in one of the rooms, a block tudor archway and roof structural features which show evidence of smoke-blackened rafters. See doe list for full details (doe 1988).

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV103566.

Osa=st20sw13.

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV103567.

Doe/hhr:cotleigh/(16/3/1988)2-3.

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV148.

South wood farm. Datestone is 1655 but house is older. Two storeys, rubble, thatch and some slate. Two storey porch.17th century plaster ceiling (os).

Clements, H. A., 1994, Survey of Farmsteads in the Devon Part of the Blackdown Hills, Plan (Report - Survey). SDV344050.

Devon County Council, 1997-2002, Buildings at Risk Survey in the Devon Part of the Blackdown Hills AONB (Un-published). SDV344048.

Devon and Somerset County Councils, 2000-2002, Historic Farmsteads Database, BH107H (Machine readable data file). SDV349681.

Thatched, rubblestone late 15th century-early 16th century house with 17th century rear service wing, which faces east. Front has a regular 1:1:2 window front with 2 -storey porch and 1655 date plaque. Chert; Rubble stone walls. Beerstone ashlar details. Thatch roof. Currently a house, no longer a farmhouse

Thorp, J., 2003, South Wood Farm, BH107006 (Ground Photograph). SDV351746.

Thorp, J., 2003, South Wood Farm, BH107010, BH107021-BH107022 (Un-published). SDV351747.

Keystone Historic Buildings Consultants, 2006, South Wood, Cotleigh (Report - Survey). SDV348132.

A late medieval house which was substantially altered in the 16th and 17th centuries. It appears to be mostly built of chert rubblestone although the thickness of the earliest walls and the fact that part of the north side is plastered suggests that the medieval house was of cob. The dressings are of Tolcis limestone apart from the verges and kneelers of the gable of the south porch which are Hamstone. The south front block including the porch is thatched, the master chamber crosswing is clad in asbestos slates and the kitchen extension and rear porch roofs are slate.
The house originated as a medieval hall house built in the late 14th or early 15th century, with a three room cross passage plan, comprising a hall and an inner room separated by a cross wall on one side of the cross passage and a service room on the other. It is suggested that there may have been a first floor chamber above the inner room. The roof structure above the hall, including a base layer of rye thatch is sooted indicating that it was originally open to the roof and heated by an open farm. The other rooms were unheated.
The house was transformed in the 16th century with the insertion of chimney stacks to heat the hall and inner room, which was converted to a parlour. The oak lintel above the fireplace has a number of carved initials and also several apotropaic scorch marks. The house was completely floored at this time including the inner room, if not previously so. It was also enlarged with the addition of a two storey wing to the rear of the parlour. The house was refurbished again in the mid 17th century, commemorated by a date plaque of 1655. Porches were added to the front and rear, the service end was rebuilt as a kitchen with a heated chamber above, the hall becoming the dining room with a plaster ceiling. These alterations essentially completed the transformation of the medieval house into the modern house seen today.
See report for full details.

Tyers, C + Hurford, M. + Arnold, A. + Howard, R.E. + Thorp, J., 2009, Dendrochronological Research in Devon: Phase II (Report - Interim). SDV348234.

Ordnance Survey, 2013, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV350786.

English Heritage, 2013, National Heritage List for England (National Heritage List for England). SDV350785.

South Wood Farmhouse. 15th century - early 16th century with major later 16th century and 17th century improvements. Local stone and flint rubble with Beerstone ashlar detail; stone rubble stacks and chimneyshafts, some topped with 20th century brick; thatch roof. Plan and development: the main block faces east and it has a 3-room-and-through- passage plan. At the left (south) end is the former kitchen with a large gable-end stack. Behind this kitchen is a newel stair and a small unheated room (probably a pantry) in a short rear projection. The passage between the former kitchen and hall is now blocked to rear. The hall has an axial stack backing onto the passage and includes a curing chamber alongside. At the right (north) end is an inner room parlour with projecting gable-end stack. An unheated 1-room plan service wing projects at right angles to rear of the inner room parlour and overlapping the upper end of the hall. This includes a large newel stair from the upper end of the hall. At the front of the passage there is a 2-storey porch. The remains of a rear porch have been incorporated into 20th century outshots across the back of the main block between the 2 rear wings. The main block is the historic core of the house. Most of the original roof survives here and it indicates that the inner room end was originally 2 storeys and the rest was open to the roof, divided by low partitions and heated by an open hearth fire. Inner room and hall chimneystacks were probably added in the late 16th century. The hall was floored over in the early 17th century. The service end was probably already floored over but was rebuilt in its present form with the rear staircase and unheated room in the mid-17th century. This was probably in 1655, the date on the front porch. The rear service block was added at the same time. This 1655 refurbishment appears to have turned the house round. Formerly, it seems, the house faced towards the lane and there is the remains of an early 17th century porch on that side. In 1655 a new porch was built on the garden (east) side and since then this has been the main front. House is 2 storeys. Exterior: regular but not symmetrical 1:1:2 window front of mostly mid-17th century Beerstone ashlar windows with ovolo-moulded mullions. The 2 17th century ground floor windows have hoodmoulds. The first floor window at the right end is a 20th century casement containing rectangular panes of leaded glass and the ground floor window below has been converted to a 20th century French window behind a contemporary conservatory. The porch is gabled with shaped kneelers, coping and apex finials. Its outer arch is a Tudor arch with moulded surround and chamfer-scroll stops. There is a projecting dripcourse directly above and above the first floor window is the 1655 date plaque. The porch has benches each side and the passage front doorway contains a late 19th century part-glazed 4-panel door apparently in a smaller opening than the original. The main roof is gable-ended. The stair wing has a half-hipped roof and the service block is gable-ended. The back of the main block and the rear wings include more 17th century windows, most of them Beerstone with ovolo-moulded mullions although there is an oak 3-light window over the passage rear doorway and it has chamfered mullions and contains rectangular panes of leaded glass. Behind the rear outshot is the roofless remains of the early 17th century porch to the passage rear doorway; its outer arch has an oak frame with a cambered head and ovolo-moulded surround. Good interior: the 17th century kitchen (on the lower side of the passage) has chamfered and step-stopped axial beams. Here there is a massive Beerstone ashlar fireplace with a chamfered oak lintel; the oven is relined with 19th century brick. The newel stair rises round a post and includes, at first floor level, a grille of 17th century oak balusters. The hall/dining room the other side of the passage has a large Beerstone aslar fireplace with a chamfered and slightly arched oak lintel. There is a seat on the left cheek which includes a doorway through to a curing chamber. There is a blocked ash raking hole below the seat. This is an unusual feature to be found in such a well-appointed room. The ceiling here has a flat ground on which is an early 17th century single rib pattern of ornamental plasterwork enriched with a series of the same moulded motif; a fleur-de-lys with rosettes. In the parlour no ceiling beam shows either. The fireplace here is Beerstone ashlar with oak lintel and chamfered surround. The service block has plain square-section crossbeams with upended plank joists, originally providing a flat ceiling like those in the hall and parlour. Broad newel stair from hall to the first floor. On the first floor there is a 17th century doorframe between kitchen and passage doorframes; it is chamfered with step stops and contains an ancient plank door hung on strap hinges with fleur-de-lys finials. There are a couple of other old plank doors on the first floor. A blocked Tudor arch doorway shows between passage chamber and porch. The kitchen and parlour chambers have small Beerstone ashlar fireplaces with oak lintels. The original roof survives over the hall and parlour. It is 3 bays. The partition between the hall and parlour chambers is a closed truss and there is an open truss over the hall; it is a face-pegged jointed cruck with chamfered arch braces, cambered collar and at the apex there is a small triangular yoke and diagonal ridge (Alcock's apex type L1). The roof also contains single sets of curving windbraces. The hall roof including the common rafters, the underside of the original thatch and hall face of the closed truss is heavily smoke-blackened from the original open hearth fire. The 17th century truss over the main block kitchen is clean; the bases of the principals are boxed into a partition. So too is the truss in the service wing. South Wood Farmhouse is a particularly attractive and well-preserved farmhouse. Jeffrey de Wrothiall owned the Wood estate in the time of Henry III. After 15 generations had lived there it was sold to a Mr. W. Fry whose great granddaughter married a Mr. Andrews, who was the owner in 1773

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV4655 - Survey of Farmsteads in the Blackdown Hills
• EDV4654 - Buildings at Risk Re-Survey
• EDV5551 - Historic Building Survey of South Wood Farm, Cotleigh
• EDV5623 - Dendrochronological Research in Devon, Phase II

Search results generated by the HBSMR Gateway from exeGesIS SDM Ltd.