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Summary

Former farmhouse dating to the mid 17th century which dendrochronological analysis suggests was extended to the north in the late 17th-earlier 18th century.

Location

Protected Status

• Listed Building (II*) 1169119: DRASCOMBE BARTON

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX79SW6
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 445783
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX79SW/6
• Old Listed Building Ref (II*): 94828

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• FARMHOUSE (XVI to XVII - 1600 AD (Between) to 1700 AD (Between)) + Sci.Date

Full description

Reichel, O. J., 1912, Early Descents of the Manors in the Wonford Hundred, 313, 314 (Article in Serial). SDV38843.

Reichel, O. J., 1912, The Domesday Hundred of Wenford or Wonford, 282, 287, 308 (Article in Serial). SDV38842.

Formed part of the domesday manor of Wenfort. Consisted originally of the farmsteads of torhill, redlake, hobhouse, nattonhall and budbrook. Early descents of ownership are given.

Rose-Troup, F., 1942, Crediton Charters of the Tenth Century, 246 (Article in Serial). SDV38133.

Drascombe Barton the site is mentioned in a charter of 739 which described the boundary of Cridie. It is referred to as Drosncomb's Head.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1953, SX79SW6, photograph (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV222246.

(08/04/1953) Cob and thatch with old panelling. Appears to be 17th century. Outbuildings comparatively modern.

Department of Environment, 1960, Okehampton RD, 12 (List of Blds of Arch or Historic Interest). SDV275388.

Drascombe Barton. A two storey, probably early seventeenth century, cob and rubble building with a thatched roof.

Finberg, H. P. R., 1968, Some Crediton documents re-examined with some observations on the criticism of Anglo-Saxon charters, 73 (Article in Serial). SDV38145.

The site is also mentioned in a charter of about 1000 which describes the boundary of "creedy land".

Alcock, N. W., 1969, Devonshire Farmhouses. Part 2, 99-102,pl.7,fig.7-8 (Article in Serial). SDV269384.

(1967) Site very ancient, but present house appears to be entirely of one built in the later 17th century and preserves its original layout very clearly. Slopes slightly but not directly downhill. Of cob with four main ground floor rooms. Original entry, now at the back of the house, is through a porch with the typical room above and a shoulder-headed doorway (fig.7); the opposite doorway has a chamfered lintel with scroll stop. Below the passage is one room with a very large fireplace (blocked and of uncertain total width); the ceiling beam has scroll-with-double-bar stops. The upper wall of the passage is solid and beyond it lies an unheated room whose beam has deep chamfers with scroll stops (a stair has been inserted here). Main room has a good fireplace. Its lintel, the half-beam and the main beam all have ovolo mouldings with straight-cut stops. Joists are lightly grooved. Fine stud-and-panel partition with scroll moulded bead beam and studs. The mouldings of the studs are not properly finished into the head beam, but just come to an end; some 610mm off the floor are stepped stops above the original bench. In se wall is a small cupboard, its door carved with a diamond design. A passage beyond the hall now contains stairs and a door at each end. Then comes a second good room; the wall between it and the passage has a scroll-moulded head beam and is probably stud-and-panel. The main beam and half beam have ovolo mouldings with large step stops, and the joists are again grooved. There is a fireplace without early features in the end wall, but this wall is thicker than the side walls. On the first floor the original layout has been obscured by later work, but there seem to have been rooms corresponding to the ground floor ones. At the kitchen end there are two rooms over both the kitchen and the cross passage. The unheated room beyond the cross passage must be a store or dairy. The roof truss (fig.8) shows the ultimate stage in transition from the cruck to the simple truss with principals and a collar, by way of the jointed cruck. A post in the wall is still used. Both timbers are straight and are just halved and pegged.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1982, SX79SW6 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV222244.

(21/09/1968) No change from 1953.
(22/03/1982) SX 70129200. Dranscombe Barton (name confirmed) (nameplate). See ground photograph.

Department of Environment, 1988, Drewsteignton, 20-21 (List of Blds of Arch or Historic Interest). SDV336831.

House, former farmhouse. Mid 17th century with superficial late 19th century modernization. Plastered cob on stone rubble footings; stone rubble stacks (the kitchen one may be cob) topped with 19th century and 20th century brick; thatch roof. Long building facing the farmyard to the ne and built down a gentle slope. Distinctive plan of 4 rooms and 2 through passages. Gable-end stack. Irregular 6 window front of 19th century and 20th century casements, those on the first floor with thatch eyebrows over. Both front doors are 19th century. Roof is gable-ended. Good interior is well preserved. Both the hall and parlour have similar finishes. The kitchen fireplace has a massive reused oak beam as its lintel, soffit-chamfered with scroll stops for its present use. The alcove to left contains two ovens. The roof is made up of A-frame trusses with pegged lap-jointed collars and dovetail-shaped halvings. See List for full description of various features.

Cherry, B. + Pevsner, N., 1989, The Buildings of England: Devon, 341 (Monograph). SDV325629.

Dranscombe Barton. Mid-C17th farmhouse unusually designed with a four-room plan and 2 through-passages. The upper right end room is the parlour, seperated from the hall by a passage next to which is the dairy, and the left end kitchen seperated from the dairy by a passage. Grade II*.

Tyers, C + Hurford, M. + Arnold, A. + Howard, R.E. + Thorp, J., 2009, Dendrochronological Research in Devon: Phase II, 8-9, building description, photos (Report - Interim). SDV348234.

A long, two storey cob built farmhouse with an unusual four room and double cross passage plan, the main cross passage being the lower, southern one. It has a 15th century oak door frame to the rear. The upper cross passage is a 17th century stair lobby between the two main rooms. The room at the north end is a parlour dating to the 17th century with a fireplace in the gable end while to the south of the stair lobby is a hall/dining room. This has an oak screen and bench at the southern end providing an unheated service room beyond. To the south of the lower cross passage is a 17th century kitchen with a large fireplace in the gable end. The rooms on the first floor follow a similar layout.
The results of a dendrochronological analysis undertaken on timbers from the house showed it to be of two phases. The earliest phase (trusses 3-6) has a felling date for the timbers of 1621-44. The house was then extended to the north, with trusses 1-2 providing a felling date of 1693-1718. The house had been expected to date to the mid 17th century but the later phase to the north had not been recognised previously.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV5623 - Dendrochronological Research in Devon, Phase II

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