See important guidance on the use of this record.

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

Summary

Early 16th century farmhouse, probably divided into a house and cottage in the late 19th or early 20th century.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: SS82NW/67
• Old Listed Building Ref (II): 397878

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• FARMHOUSE (Late Medieval - 1401 AD to 1539 AD (Between))

Full description

Department of Environment, 1988, Molland, 42-3 (List of Blds of Arch or Historic Interest). SDV337231.

East Lee Farmhouse and East Lee Cottage (formerly listed as Nos 1 and 2, East Lee Cottages). Farmhouse, now divided. Circa 1500, altered in the early 17th century, and probably further altered in the 18th century. Some late 20th century alterations. Coursed stone rubble and cob, mostly all rendered. Gable-ended corrugated-asbestos roof (formerly thatched), hipped to right. Stone lateral and end stacks with weatherings, that to front partly rebuilt in 19th century red brick and that to left rendered.
Plan and development: 3-room and cross-passage plan facing south. Ground falls to left. Late-Medieval open hall house consisting of hall with former inner room to right and former cross passage to left with room beyond; formerly open to the roof from end to end, probably with low dividing partitions. Seventeenth century alterations included insertion of the first floor, and probable rebuilding of the dividing walls. Inserted external lateral stack to front wall and inserted end stacks to inner room and service room. Cob wall between hall and inner room, rising to eaves level. The dividing cob wall possibly dates from the late-Medieval period as a smoke-blackened post attached to it on the hall side, but the wall does not appear to be blackened in the roofspace, although it might be obscured by later paint. The dividing wall might have been inserted (or raised) in a transitional stage of the flooring. It is possible that the upper and lower ends were floored first, leaving the hall open to the roof, heated either by the former open hearth or by the inserted stack on the front wall. The post in the roof, from the top of the dividing wall to the apex, might pre-date the wall (see smoke blackening on both sides), possibly formerly rising from a wooden screen, or might be contemporary with it, perhaps replacing a roof truss. It is possible that if there were a transitional stage, with the hall open to the roof, the roofspace still remained open from end to end. Rectangular stair projection added at rear of upper end of hall in the 17th century when the first floor was inserted and probably also raised in the 17th century (see projection at eaves to front and rear). Continuous lean-to outshut at rear, probably a 17th or 18th century addition. Probably 18th century 1-roomed addition to right, ground-floor room now workshop and entered from end wall. The house was divided in the late 19th or the 20th century and the lower end, cross passage and former service room has been much altered in the late 20th century with inserted dividing walls. Twentieth century staircase at rear of former cross passage, probably replacing inserted 19th century stair. Cross-passage door blocked (now window), probably in the 19th or 20th century. Door inserted in front hall of inner room in the 20th century. Two storeys.
Exterior: Asymmetrically-fenestrated front. Four windows to first floor, three 19th century 3-light small paned wooden casements to left and 20th century two-light wooden casements to right, and 5 windows to ground floor, late-20th century 2-,3-and 4-light wooden casements. Boarded door with late-20th century gabled porch between first and second window from left. Twentieth century half-glazed door between second window from left and stack, and boarded door between first and second windows from right. Projecting stack to front with chamfered plinth and chamfered offsets.
llnterior: Former hall (kitchen of right-hand house) has pair of 17th century deep-chamfered cross beams and half beams to right, all with scroll stops. Open 17th century fireplace to front wall with dressed stone jambs, chamfered wooden lintel, bread oven and small side window to east. Former inner room to right with plastered spine beam, blocked old fireplace and old boarded cupboard door to right of fireplace with H-L hinges. Former service room to left (part of left-hand cottage) with chamfered cross beam and open fireplace with wooden lintel and flat stone arch, possibly 18th century. First-floor rooms with old floorboards and old boarded doors. Blocked window to rear of first-floor room over former inner room. Old attic stairs at right-hand end; old boarded door with strap hinges at foot of stairs. Remains of smoke-blackened late-Medieval roof include hip cruck at right-hand end, which has a tenon at the end with a peg hole (probably formerly to take ridge-piece), and post attached to cob wall between hall and inner room, with tenoned V-shaped notched top, probably to take former diagonally-set ridge-piece. Principal-rafter truss at lower end of hall, probably 17th century, possibly earlier. Two probably 17th or 18th century principal-rafter trusses over former service end with pegged collars and mortice and tenoned apices. Cross beam over hall, notched over lower purlins and with timber tenoned (and pegged) in centre of lower edge, possibly formerly part of a construction to suspend cooking utensils etc. over former open hearth. Late 20th century roof above.

Ordnance Survey, 2010, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV344030.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

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