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Summary

Site of a house which formerly stood at Old Woodhouse and which was demolished in 1972. It is thought to have been built as a single storey long house type structure c.1500, the lower end of which was subsequently rebuilt and a service wing added c.1600. It was heightened and a second storey inserted in the 17th century; there was a date of 1649 on the central chimney stack. Another wing was added at the north-west end in the 18th/early 19th century.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses: none recorded

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• HOUSE (Built, XV to Late 20th Century - 1401 AD (Between) to 1972 AD)

Full description

Devon County Council, 1838-1848, Tithe Mosaic, approximately 1838-1848 (Cartographic). SDV349431.

House depicted, facing south-west with a wing at either end. Recorded as House Garden and Shrubbery on the Uplyme Tithe Apportionment (Plot 286). It appears that the north-west wing is a later addition, added in the 18th or earlier 19th century.

Ordnance Survey, 1880-1899, First Edition Ordnance Survey 25 inch map (Cartographic). SDV336179.

House shown with an outbuilding adjacent to the north-west wing and an open-fronted structure against the south-east wing.

Machin, B., 1973, Old Woodhouse, Uplyme (Draft report) (Un-published). SDV366955.

Observations made on the house prior and during demolition in 1972. The reason(s) for the demolition are not given. The plan shows it to have been an L-shaped building with an east-west orientated main range and a projecting north-east wing. There was a fireplace against the east wall of the main central south room and a projecting stair turret to the rear.
The only certain dating feature was ‘1649’ carved on the top of the central chimney stack. Built of ashlar stone, it was found to be an insertion not part of the original building. The stack heating the east room was a subsequent addition to the 1649 stack and was inserted into a former cross passage.
The walls varied in construction, the west gable wall for example was entirely cob, the other walls cob on rubble stone. The stair project on the north side was completely stone. The main east-west roof was carried on four raised cruck trusses. The east wing had a collared principal rafter roof.
A particular feature of the plan of the house is the size of the unheated area below the original cross passage which comprises two bays of the east-west range with a wing projecting to the north-east. It is suggested that the two bays were the byre of a long house with a dairy/cheese room in the wing behind and/or servants quarters above.
Machin suggests, therefore, that house may have originated as a single storey stone long house perhaps. C.1500 or earlier, the byre of which was rebuilt, suggested by different wall thicknesses, and a service wing added, c.1600. The house was subsequently heightened in cob. A central stack was inserted in 1649, serving two floors and the rear stair turret added. The byre was converted to domestic use in the 18th century.

Ordnance Survey, 2026, Mastermap 2026 (Cartographic). SDV366713.

Modern mapping shows the site to have been redeveloped.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments: none recorded

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

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