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Summary

Small Victorian stable which was rebuilt on the site of and retains some cob walling from an earlier, 17th century building.

Location

Protected Status

• Listed Building (II) 1106606: STABLES APPROXIMATELY 12 METRES SOUTH OF FORD FARMHOUSE

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: SS61SE/87/3
• Old Listed Building Ref (II)

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• STABLE (Built, XVII to XIX - 1601 AD (Between) to 1900 AD (Between))

Full description

Department of Environment, 1986, Chawleigh, 11 (List of Blds of Arch or Historic Interest). SDV43941.

Stables approx 12m south of Ford Farmhouse. Stables. C17 origins, mostly rebuilt in late C19. Front of plastered cob on rubble footings, the rest of exposed rubble; red tile roof. Gable-ended stable block with hayloft over facing north. Once-symmetrical front comprising a central door flanked by windows and hayloft loading hatch over. Left window now replaced by large C20 doorway. Late C19 common rafter roof. Stables form a group with nearby barn, cowshed and the picturesque Ford Farmhouse.

Cox, J. + Thorp, J. R. L., 2017, The Traditional Farm Buildings at Ford Farm, Chawleigh (Report - Survey). SDV360139.

An assessment of the disused stable and barn was undertaken from an historic and archaeological point of view in order to provide a Statement of Historic Significance.
The stable is probably mid-late 19th century but incorporating some cob from an earlier farm building. There is no difference in the footprint of the building as shown on the historic maps. It can be reasonably supposed, therefore, that the present building is a rebuild of the one shown on the 1839 tithe map as the use of ‘red tile’ for the roof (see below) suggests a date from after the arrival of the railway and the nearby railway station at Eggesford Junction in about 1850 which could have delivered Bridgewater roofing tiles at a cheap enough price to use on farm buildings. The general style of the carpentry detail of the stable is also wholly consistent with such a date.
The north front wall and internal crosswall are of cob on a local stone rubble front. The cob is plastered on the north front. The rest is local stone rubblestone, a hard and intractable grey-brown mudstone. The rear (south) wall has evidence of cobbing up on the walltop after the roof timbers had been erected. The roof is now covered with corrugated iron but was red tile in 1986 according to the list description.
The stable is built on a northwest-southeast axis, but for the sake of simplicity it is described in this report according to the main cardinal points (as if it was parallel to the farmhouse). Thus it has an east-west axis facing north onto the former farmyard. It is built down a west-facing slope. It is a lofted building with the ground floor level containing two compartments. The small eastern one was probably a tack room. The loft is open from end to end and served by a loading hatch in the front (north) wall.
The front contains two doorways and, at the west end, a single window. The east end and central doorways have plain solid frames under an oak lintel. Both now contain only lower flap doors which date from the mid 20th century. Directly above the centre doorway there is a relatively small hayloft loading hatch, also with a plain solid timber frame which contains a probably 19th century plank door hung on strap hinges. The west-end window contains a small mullion-and-transom frame with shuttered lower lights. The open upper lights contain no sign of glazing rebates.
Inside the floors are mostly covered with a screed of 20th century concrete, but the stable section of the ground floor preserves the cobbled standing from the stalls along the rear wall, finishing on an east-west line against a drain which exits through a hole in the west end wall. Nothing remains of the stalls. In the small eastern room, the putative tack room, the hayloft floor is carried of upright oak joists set axially between the east end wall and the crosswall to the stable proper. The longer stable compartment is two bays long requiring a roughly finished crossbeam to carry similar joists. The loft is open to a roof of common rafter A-frames built of softwood with lap-jointed apexes and collars, all nailed together. This probably dates from the mid-late 19th century.
It is a relatively small Victorian stable probably retaining the footprint and some cob walling from an earlier stable. As such it is neither rare nor special. Sadly, it has lost its connection with its mother farmhouse. It is a component of an attractive group with the farmhouse and the barn. There was a probably late 17th century contemporary cow-shed, which was also listed in 1986, but has since been rebuilt as a cottage, compromising the integrity of the group. The stable was individually listed in 1986 as an element of a rare group of largely contemporary historic buildings comprising a vernacular farmhouse and farm buildings from the late 17th century created on a modest scale.

Ordnance Survey, 2022, Mastermap 2022 (Cartographic). SDV364674.

Stables shown.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV7238 - Historic Building Recording, The Traditional Farm Buildings at Ford Farm, Chawleigh (Ref: ACD1550)

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