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Summary

Rawridge Farmhouse, 16th-17th century in date.

Location

Protected Status

• Listed Building (II) 1098210: RAWRIDGE FARMHOUSE

Other References/Statuses

• Old Listed Building Ref (II): 86679

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• FARMHOUSE (XVI to XX - 1501 AD to 2000 AD (Not applicable))

Full description

Foster, K. + Skinner, R., 01/2016, A30 to A303 Honiton to Devonshire Inn Improvement Scheme, Honiton, Devon (Report - Assessment). SDV359378.

DBA undertaken along a corridor associated with the A30/A303 between Honiton and Devonshire Inn. This study is intended to inform the development of options for improvements to the A30/A303 between Honiton and Devonshire Inn.

During the medieval period the principal settlement would have been at Rawridge. Rawridge Farmhouse is a 16th-century farmhouse with a core that is typical Blackdown Hills vernacular with a four room plan enlarged from a three room plan, chert rubble walls and a thatched roof. The farmhouse was subject to rearrangement in the 17th century and modernisation in the late 19th/early 20th. The farmhouse is set within a complex of farm buildings and gardens on a private lane on a lane to the east of Rawridge. Beyond the farm buildings the farm’s setting comprises agricultural fields of pasture on the lower slopes of Rawridge Hill.

The house derives its significance from its evidential (architectural value), its aesthetic value as a typical Blackdown Hills cottage and from its historical value as a surviving feature of the late-medieval landscape. The farmhouse’s immediate setting amongst its gardens and farm buildings is its most important, the building having a functional link with the house and the gardens representing a secluded, intimate space from which to experience the house. The setting of fields around the farm is also important as it represents the farmhouse’s original, historic setting with a close functional link to the working of the farm. However the farmhouse is well screened from the surrounding landscape being only visible from the lane to the south-west so the association between the farmhouse and the fields around it is not easy to appreciate.

The current A30 is not in close proximity to and entirely screened from the farm and is not considered to be within its setting. Any scheme that affects the fields in the immediate vicinity of Rawridge Farmhouse would be considered to be within the farmhouse’s setting and would be likely to impact upon the its significance. Such an impact may be reduced through the implementation of careful, sensitive design.

Clements, H. A., 1994, Survey of Farmsteads in the Devon Part of the Blackdown Hills (Report - Survey). SDV344050.

Other details: Sketch plan.

Ordnance Survey, 2011, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV346129.

English Heritage, 2011, National Heritage List for England (National Heritage List for England). SDV347072.

Rawridge Farmhouse. Parts may be early 16th century but the earliest features apparent are late 16th - early 17th century with a major mid - late 17th century rearrangement, modernised in the late 19th - early 20th century. Roughcast local stone and flint rubble including sections of cob; stone rubble stacks topped with 19th and 20th century brick; thatch roof, slate to rear service block.
Plan and development: the main block faces south-east and is built across the hillslope. It has a 4-room plan. Next to the lane at the left (south-west) end is a former kitchen with a gable-end stack. Next to this is the entrance hall which also contains the main stair, a small pantry, and a passage through to the back. Right of centre is a parlour (the former hall) and it has an axial stack backing onto the entrance hall section. At the right end is an unheated inner room which was formerly a dairy. A 19th century 1-room plan service block projects at right angles to rear of the kitchen. The present layout of the main block appears to derive from a major rearrangement of a late medieval 3-room-and-through-passage plan. The right 2 rooms appear to be the hall and inner room from this house. The roofspace is inaccessible and therefore it is not possible to determine the original layout of the house. Nevertheless it seems likely that the house began as some form of open hall house, maybe heated by an open hearth fire. The hall/parlour fireplace and both these rooms had been floored over before the mid - late 17th century rearrangement at this time the entrance hall and kitchen were built replacing the former passage and service end room. The farmhouse is 2 storeys.
Exterior: irregular 3-window front of 20th century casements with glazing bars, the first floor ones rising a short distance into the eaves. The front doorway is roughly central and it contains an old studded plank door behind a late 19th - early 20th century gabled porch with trellis sides. The projection at the left end is thought to be a disused curing chamber. The roof is gable-ended to left and half-hipped to right. The rear includes 20th century casements similar to those at the front except for 1 first floor window (to the kitchen chamber) which is probably 18th century; it has flat-faced mullions and contains rectangular panes of leaded glass.
Interior: is largely the result of a thorough, if superficial, late 19th - early 20th century modernisation. Nevertheless some earlier features are exposed. Although the former kitchen fireplace is blocked its oak lintel is exposed. It and the crossbeams are both chamfered with scroll-nick stops. The cupboard to left of the fireplace is thought to occupy a former walk-in curing chamber. The hall fireplace is blocked but the crossbeam is chamfered with step stops. The inner room has a plain chamfered crossbeam. The roofspace is inaccessible and those parts of the trusses below ceiling level are boxed in or plastered over. Nevetheless the truss over the hall might be a jointed cruck. This farmhouse forms part of a group with the other listed buildings in the scattered hamlet of Rawridge. Date listed: 16th March 1988.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV4655 - Survey of Farmsteads in the Blackdown Hills
• EDV6910 - Desk Based Assessment, A30/A303 Honiton to Devonshire Inn Improvement Scheme, Honiton, Devon (Ref: 111160.01)

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