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Summary

Farmhouse built on the site of a Cluniac priory founded in the 1120s. The house is thought to occupy the site of the north, west and east ranges but little or no medieval masonry appears to survive. With the exception of a reused 12th century doorframe surviving features in the house indicate a late 16th century core with 17th and 18th century alterations.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: ST00NE/5/4
• Old Listed Building Ref (II*): 87082

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• FARMHOUSE (Built, XVI - 1501 AD to 1600 AD)

Full description

Thorp, J., Kerswell Priory, Broadhembury, Devon (Report - Survey). SDV355362.

Everett, A. W., 1938-1939, Kerswell. A Cell of Montacute, Illustration opp. P97 (Article in Serial). SDV357726.

Department of Environment, 1950, Honiton RD, 12 (List of Blds of Arch or Historic Interest). SDV118185.

Built on site of old priory which is said to have been a cell of Montacute. A long colourwashed rubble building with two wings to the south. East wing has a doorway with a stone arch and Norman zig-zag carving and contains rectangular and upright panelling of 15/16th century date. West wing façade remodelled with addition of sash windows and porch. Adam fireplace in room to right of porch. Between the wings is the kitchen with wide open hearth, and ceiling divided into four compartments by large unmoulded beams. Similar ceiling in room to west, but with moulded beams, and radiating patterns in the compartments.

Ralegh Radford, C. A., 1952, Description [of Kerswell Priory], 118-121 (Article in Serial). SDV357725.

Attic over the kitchen retains Elizabethan plaster on the west wall, suggesting it was originally an open hall, floored in 17th century. To its west the ground floor room is ceiled with plasterwork of Elizabethan date, this probably then a parlour. To the east, now a dairy, were the service rooms. 18th century alterations included refronting of west face, incorporating the west end of the old house and adding a new room to the south. Late 12th century doorway. Voussoirs and upper part of left jamb survive, latter in situ.

Pevsner, N., 1952, The Buildings of England: South Devon, 189 (Monograph). SDV336217.

Linenfold panelling within

Graham, R., 1952, The Cluniac Priory of St. Mary Carswell, 115-121 (Article in Serial). SDV357724.

Copeland, G. W., 1964, Proceedings at the 102nd Annual Meeting, 25 (Article in Serial). SDV57390.

Visited 11th June 1964. The farmhouse contains a doorway, probably not in situ, made up of enriched Norman pieces. There are also two old ceilings, one of moulded plaster.

Lockett, R. B., 1971, A Catalogue of Romanesque Sculpture from the Clunaic House in England, 49-50 (Article in Serial). SDV342191.

Part of a 12th century doorway with chebron voussoirs and one capital which has simple geometric decoration.

Jackson-Stops & Staff, 1987, Kerswell Priory, Broadhembury (Leaflet). SDV134524.

After the dissolution of the monastries the priory was occupied by lay people and adapted. The dining room and kitchen, were the original chapel, and the doorway leading from the back porch to the garage has a norman arch of stone decorated with zig-zag carving of the period. Alterations were carried out in the 17th century and a georgian west wing added in the 18th century. In the last 5 years the house has been re-roofed and re-wired and the rendering, over the rubble stone walls has been stripped off and renewed. Huge open fireplace in the kitchen and 16th century plasterwork ceiling in the dining room. Drawing room has an Adam style fireplace with marble slips, tiled hearth and wooden mantelpiece. In the kitchen is an original bread oven, an oak bressomer beam and massive exposed ceiling beams with the original hooks still in place. Some georgian sash windows. Old dairy.

Department of Environment, 1989, Broadhembury, 61 (List of Blds of Arch or Historic Interest). SDV340167.

With exeption of re-sited 12th century doorframe, surviving features indicate a circa late 16th century core with 17th and 18th century alterations. Rendered, probably cob and stone; slate roof hipped at ends of west block, 2 axial stacks to main range. Plan: 'U' shaped 4 room range on east-west axis with south wings at right angles. Complex evolution. Exterior: 2 storeys. 3 window west front. Step up to wide 18th century panel door. Probably 18th century sashes to west front. 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th century windows to north elevation. Lean-to on south elevation; mostly 20th century windows. Interior: right hand heated room with ceiling of intersecting beams and open fireplace with bread oven. Adjoining room to west has 17th century plaster ceiling. West rooms have 18th century chimney pieces. 18th century stair. Section of plank and muntin screen in south-east wing. Numerous 18th century doors. Roof: remains of late 16th century decorated plaster on west axial stack. Probably 17th century 'A' frame roof trusses. Roofspace floored and was probably used for servants' accommodation. Walls to garden to north and east are probably of 18th century hand made brick and are included in the listing. See DoE list for full details

Weddell, P. J., 1991, An Archaeological Assessment of Kerswell Priory, Broadhembury (Report - Assessment). SDV340329.

Very little medieval fabric observed. Norman doorway in east wing is probably a postmedieval insertion. Radford (in Graham) suggests the left jamb may be in its original position, although the opening would have been twice as wide as the present one. This would indicate that the west wall of this wing (which is thicker than others) is medieval. The door is thought to mark entrance to chapter house, though this would not allow for the provision of transepts in the church. A 6 metre length of wall over 1 metre thick survives between hall and dining room. This would have formed the south wall of the church.

Allan, J. + Young, G., 2006, The Refectory Range of Kerswell Priory, 175-190 (Article in Serial). SDV344658.

Archaeological assessment of the farmhouse range undertaken in 1990 by J. Thorp. The house has a long and complex structural history. The present house is essentially the result of an 18th century refurbishment of a 16th century house with minor 19th and 20th century modernisations. No definite medieval fabric can be distinguished at present and it is possible that the church was completely demolished when the house was built. The original size and layout of the 16th century house cannot now be established with any certainty. Two rooms, however, the present sitting room and kitchen can be identified as part of this house. The house was rearranged and probably enlarged in a major late 17th century building phase. The main block was reroofed at a higher level, most of the 16th century windows were replaced, the interior was refurbished and the granary wing rebuilt or rearranged for domestic use. The west end of the house was rearranged in the 18th century but the rest of the house retains a great number of 17th century features. In the mid 18th century a new wing was built at the west end to present a polite double-fronted façade and the nterior was rearranged to contain a new staircase and the principal rooms. It is considered unusual that the house did not see a 19th century phase of modernisation but this may be explained by the fact that it was sold in 1806 and thereafter downgraded to a working farmhouse. See Appendix 4 for full details.

English Heritage, 2010, Historic Houses Register (List of Blds of Arch or Historic Interest). SDV154869.

Kerswell Priory including walls of walled garden. House on the site of a Cluniac Priory, founded in the 1120s and dissolved in 1538. Although the house may occupy the site of the north, west and east ranges of the Priory, recent stripping of the render from the farmhouse buildings suggests little or no medieval masonry. With the exception of a re-sited C12 doorframe, surviving features in the house indicate a circa late 16th century core with 17th and 18th century alterations. Rendered, probably cob and stone; slate roof, hipped at ends of west block, end stacks to west block, 2 axial stacks to main range.
Plan: Overall U plan, a single-depth range 4 rooms wide on a west/east axis with south wings at right angles. Complex evolution. The centre range contains an unheated room to the east, then 2 17th century parlours (the easternmost re-used as a kitchen). The west room has been re-roofed on a north/south axis, probably as part of a phase of 18th century improvements. The adjacent room in the south west wing appears to have a pre 18th century core but these 2 rooms functioned as the principal entrance block in the 18th century with a passage between them and an 18th century stair rising from the passage. The south east wing is unheated and used for storage. There is a seperate building to the south identified as the frater of the cluniac complex. This retained a medieval roof structure until 1984, although the walls have been largely rebuilt in the 19th or 20th century.
Exterior: 2 storeys. Nearly asymmetrical 3 window west front with regular fenestration and a deep hipped roof. Step up to a wide 18th century 6-panel front door with fielded panels, the top panels glazed, panelled reveals. Flat-roofed porch on timber posts. Probably 18th century timber 16-pane sash windows except for first floor left and right which are 20-pane. The left return (north elevation) has 2 20th century windows at the left end and an 18th or 19th century timber sash at the right. In the centre 2 first floor and 2 ground floor late 17th or 18th century mullioned windows glazed with square leaded panes. The south elevation has a single storey lean-to between the wings, one first floor 2-light mullioned window to ground floor right, now looking into the lean-to. Other windows are mostly 20th century with loft doors into the south end of each wing.
Interior: Resited 12th century doorframe from the outshut into the south east wing, stone with a segmental arched head, zig-zag moulding on the lintel and engaged shafts. Wide 2-panel door from the lean-to into the right hand heated room. This has a ceiling of intersecting beams and an open fireplace with a roll-moulded lintel and a bread oven. The adjoining room to the west has a circa mid/late 17th century decorated plaster ceiling with intersecting moulded beams and rather unusual radiating patterns. The stack appears to have been rebuilt (altered cornice), 18th century cupboard on the south wall. The 2 rooms in the west block have 18th century chimney-pieces and panelled shutters. Recent renovations suggest that the south-west room may be an 18th century adaptation of an existing structure rather than an 18th century addition. Attractive 18th century stair rises from the passage between the 2 west rooms: this has an open string, flat-topped handrail and turned balusters. The south-east wing retains chamfered ceiling beams and a section of plank and muntin screen. There are numerous 18th century 6- and 2-panel doors on the ground and first floor and an early 18th century bolection-moulded fireplace on th first floor.
Roof: The remains of a late 16th century decorated plaster scheme survives on the east face of the west axial stack. The 'A' frame roof trusses are probably 17th century. The roofspace is floored and was probably used for servants' accommodation. Walls to the garden to
the north and east are made of probably 18th centuryhand made brick and are included in the listing. An important house, not only for its 17th and 18th century features but also for the archaeological interest of the site. Date listed: 27th January 1989.

Griffith, F. M., 23/11/1988, DAP/JJ, 7-12 (Aerial Photograph). SDV134521.

Historic Environment Record, April 1985, Kerswell Priory (Ground Photograph). SDV134533.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV4742 - Archaeological Survey and Assessment at Kerswell Priory

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