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Summary

Farmhouse, early 16th century core with later 16th and 17th century improvements.

Location

Protected Status

• Listed Building (II) 1242547: WOOLFIN FARMHOUSE

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: SS70SE/20/1
• Old Listed Building Ref (II): 441981

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• FARMHOUSE (XVI to XVII - 1501 AD to 1700 AD (Between))

Full description

Department of Environment, 1986, Down St Mary, 105 (List of Blds of Arch or Historic Interest). SDV345932.

Farmhouse. Early C16 core with later C16 and C17 improvements. Plastered cob on rubble footings; stone rubble or cob stacks with plastered rubble chimney shafts; corrugated asbestos roof (formerly thatch). Originally a 3-room-and-through-passage plan house facing south-east with inner room at left (south-west) end. Service end has been demolished and replaced by a dairy outshot. Hall has axial stack backing onto passage and inner room has projecting end stack. 2 storeys. Regular but assymmetrical 3-window front of late C19 and C20 casements, most with glazing bars. C19 plank door to passage right of main front. Gable-ended roof. Outshot with front doorway and monopitch roof. Interior: little modernised. Passage-hall doorframe probably C17, oak with chamfered surround. Hall has late C16-early C17 crossbeam, soffit-chamfered with late step stops. The fireplace has been reduced in size and therefore original form is hidden. Alongside to left is an ogee-moulded beam, possibly the bressumer carrying the internal jetty of the passage chamber. Upper end of hall is a full height oak-framed crosswall of probably mid C16 date. Ground floor comprises an oak plank-and-muntin screen (now plastered over) with large framing above. Inner room has a probably late C16-early C17 axial beam with rough soffit-chamfer and is supported against the hall screen by a plain post. The underside includes a series of mortices for a large-framed axial partition with a doorway towards the hall end. Fireplace here is blocked. Late Cl6-early C17 roof. Lower part of hall truss is plastered over but its shape suggests that it is a jointed cruck. Roof is not smoke-blackened but the ridge over the passage is; suggestive that hall and inner room roof is secondary. The full height cob partition on lower side of passage is now end wall and includes a blocked ground floor doorway.

Matthews, A., 1997, The Farmhouse, Wolfin Farm, Down St Mary (Report - Survey). SDV51849.

Four-phase building with no closely dateable features:-
Phase 1. Earliest parts are cob side walls, cross wall and 2 surviving smoke-blackened jointed cruck trusses with associated purlins and rafters. Originally an open hall with central hearth. Probably 3-room and cross-passage arrangement. Probably late 15th or early 16th century.
Phase 2. Incorporates fireplace and axial stack in hall and upper floor. The presence of a bressumer implies an upper floor extending above the cross-passage and to the side of the stack, whilst the hall was still open. Probably mid 16th to early 17th century.
Phase 3. Insertion of plank-and-muntin screen with floor-beam over south-west (inner) room, together with upper partition above screen, which appears largely rebuilt to incorporate first floor doorway at a later date. Inner room divided into 2 and floored over, probably while hall still open. Probably mid 16th to early 17th century though could be earlier than, or contemporary with phase 2.
Phase 4. Represents final completion of first floor throughout house with insertion of a floor over the hall. The floor is later than the stone stack of the fireplace and the bressumer and appears to have been cut into the top of the plank-and-muntin screen. At the same time or soon after, the upper portion above the screen was rebuilt to include a first floor doorway providing access between first floor rooms over hall and inner room. A food-curing or bed box appears to have been part of the floor construction. Probably early to mid 17th century. A possible alternative interpretation is that the plank-and-muntin screen and upper partition above it are contemporary and that the first floor doorway opened onto an open hall, with ladder access. It is also just possible that the screen, upper partition and floor over hall are all contemporary (despite their awkward relationships). If they were inserted together, then phases 3 and 4 belong to the same period (probably mid 16th to early 17th century) and must post-date phase 2, in which there was an open hall.
See report for full details.

Ordnance Survey, 2014, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV355681.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

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